To combat corruption and improve the effectiveness of development cooperation, the EU Council wants the EU, its Member States and its institutions to adopt an integrated strategic approach. This request is made in the EU Council conclusions on corruption as an obstacle to development, adopted on Thursday 4 May without debate.
In them, the EU Council points out that corruption is a persistent social, political, security and economic problem affecting all countries and regions in the world, “including in Europe”, causing an economic loss estimated at nine times the sum of development aid.
Referring to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the European Consensus on Development, the EU Council describes an ‘obstacle to sustainable development’.
The conclusions suggest that corruption needs to be urgently addressed through an approach involving all governments and tackled wherever it is found to ensure that aid reaches those who need it most.
The EU Council underlines that combating corruption, promoting democratic values and high standards, ensuring good governance and transparency are integral elements of the Member States’ and the EU’s cooperation with partner countries and are guiding principles of the Global Gateway investment strategy.
Hence the importance of integrating a strong anti-corruption perspective in all development efforts and in all interdependent sectors such as health, education, employment, energy security and the fight against climate change, according to the EU Council.
It calls on the European Commission and the EU High Representative to adopt a more strategic and integrated EU-wide approach to preventing corruption and tackling it as an obstacle to development.
Johan Forssell, Sweden’s Minister for International Cooperation and Trade, speaking in the margins of the Foreign Affairs Council (Development) meeting, emphasised that this is a development priority for the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
He sees the conclusions as “a great step forward in making sure that European taxpayers’ money is very well spent [...], but that we also see concrete results, making our development cooperation even more effective in the future”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)