Strasbourg, 16/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - MEPs are calling for a boosting of international mechanisms to combat corruption. Based on a report by Italian GUE/NGL MEP Giusto Catania, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Wednesday on the European Community's signing of the United Nations anti-corruption convention, stressing the utmost importance of all Member States which haven't already done so to sign the convention without further delay.
The October 2003 convention covers the prevention, investigation and tackling of corruption and the freezing, seizure, confiscation and return of articles or money obtained through corruption, with the aim of fostering international cooperation. The MEPs note that the convention is far from perfect, but it is nonetheless necessary for it to be given final approval and put into practice. The EP was not consulted over the convention and MEPs are unhappy that the convention does not provide satisfactory coverage of questions like the criminalisation of passive corruption by international civil servants or effective surveillance of how the convention is applied, but they feel it has huge potential and is a good starting point and therefore recommend rapid ratification by the EU, in part in order to allow the EU to play a full role in a conference in the future to decide on how the convention will be applied. In order to ensure the convention's effectiveness, the EU's anti-fraud office OLAF should play a big role in implementing it. The EP asks the Commission to report back to the EP each year on how the convention is being applied, as part of the European Commission's annual report on protecting the EU's financial interests, and asks the Council to immediately prepare a decision setting up a European anti-corruption network. MEPs want corruption within the European institutions to be tackled, and want a public register of gifts received by Members of the European Parliament and members of the European Commission. MEPs want companies guilty of corruption to be effectively 'quarantined' within the EU.
On 15 September 2005, the European Commission and the Presidency of the Council signed the anti-corruption convention on behalf of the European Communities. All EU Member States and accession countries have now signed it, apart from Slovenia and Estonia. The following countries have already ratified it: Austria, Finland, France, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. (bc)