On International Anti-Corruption Day, commemorated on Friday 9 December, Marin Mrčela, President of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), issued a statement in which he calls for “openness and transparency”.
Referring to the recommendations issued during GRECO’s visits to Council of Europe member states, he advocated “the need to establish a proper legislative mechanism and allow for public transparency about how draft laws evolve, from proposal to adoption”.
“Fast-track procedures are too often used to speed up the adoption of new legislation without proper consultation with other state institutions and social actors concerned, and even without appropriate parliamentary debate”, he said.
Mr Mrčela also regretted that consultation deadlines and feedback processes are not always respected.
He also stressed the importance of “targeted preventive action” as well as educating children and young people about “the harmful effects of corruption for people’s lives, public trust and the rule of law”.
Link to the GRECO website: https://aeur.eu/f/4ln (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)