European Union (EU) countries need to do more to prevent corruption and restore trust in government, Transparency International (TI) said after the European Commission’s first EU-wide Anti-Corruption Report identified serious shortcomings in the national efforts of EU Member States.
The report identified systematic failures to address conflicts of interest between politicians and business, particularly in party financing, public contracting and revolving doors between government and industry. No country gets a clean bill of health.
Miklos Marschall, Deputy Managing Director of Transparency International, said: “Trust in Europe’s leaders is falling because relations between business and the public sector take place in the dark, leaving citizens with questions about whose interests are being taken care of. To bridge the gap between politics and people, there must be greater transparency in public life and more public officials held to account for their actions.”
EU ministers need to follow up with concrete commitments when they meet for the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels in March, Transparency International said.
Carl Dolan, Director of the Transparency International EU Office, said: “Corruption crosses borders and is a threat to the integrity of the single market. For these reasons, Europe needs coordinated action to tackle the failings identified in the report, such as EU legislation on whistleblower protection.”
The report assesses all 28 EU states’ efforts to prevent corruption in the public sector. Its publication has been dogged by delays, having been first scheduled for release in June 2013. The report however fails to issue detailed recommendations in the area of whistleblowing, access to information and lobbying.
“We welcome this report as an important step in the EU’s collective effort to scale up its anti-corruption efforts,” said Marschall. “It is a stark warning against complacency about corruption in any EU country.”
TI says that with its 2012 study of the anti-corruption efforts of 25 EU Member States, the report confirms a picture of systemic corruption risks in such areas as the awarding of public contracts, foreign bribery, parliamentary ethics and political party financing. And 2013 was the year of corruption scandals across the EU. France, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Spain experienced well-documented cases of high-level corruption, ranging from fraud and money-laundering allegations of high-level politicians to large-scale trans-national corruption cases and of abuse of party finances.
Three out of four EU citizens still see corruption as a major problem in their country, according to European Union surveys, and almost half of all Europeans believe that the level of corruption in their countries has increased in the last three years – a proportion that was consistent across older and newer member states.
In June 2012, Transparency International issued a report analysing 300 institutions in 25 countries detailing widespread corruption risks in Europe. See more at: http://www.transparency.org/news/feature/enis
For more background information on the EU Anti-Corruption Report developments from the last years: http://www.transparencyinternational.eu/tag/euacr/
About the EU report
The EU Anti-Corruption Report explains the situation in each Member State: what anti-corruption measures are in place, which ones are working well, what could be improved and how. National chapters in English and in national languages are available here: http://ec.europa.eu/anti-corruption-report
Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, said: “Corruption undermines citizens’ confidence in democratic institutions and the rule of law, it hurts the European economy and deprives States from much-needed tax revenue. Member States have done a lot in recent years to fight corruption, but today’s report shows that it is far from enough. The Report suggests what can be done, and I look forward to working with Member States to follow it up.”
The EU document has a chapter on public procurement; an important area for the EU economy, as about one fifth of the EU’s GDP is spent every year by public entities buying goods, works and services. It is also an area vulnerable to corruption, the EU admits.
What it says about UK
In the UK, petty corruption does not appear to pose a challenge. The UK has made strides in encouraging its companies to refrain from bribing officials abroad, through stringent legislation and detailed guidelines. Traditionally, the UK promotes high ethical standards of public service. However, further efforts are necessary to address risks of foreign bribery in vulnerable industries such as defence. In this report, the European Commission suggests that the UK should ensure transparency in out-of-court settlements in corruption cases. Accountability in the governance of banks could also be stronger. The Commission is also suggesting to cap donations to political parties, impose limits on electoral campaign spending and ensure proactive monitoring and prosecution of potential violations.
For country by country details click here.
The Bribery Act 2010 is considered stringent as it exceeded the requirements of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
In the 2013 Eurobarometer business survey, 18 per cent of UK companies that competed for public contracts in the last three years say that corruption prevented them from winning (EU average 32 pc).
The prosecution of foreign bribery poses particular challenges in the arms trade. In 2006, the SFO dropped an investigation into defence contracts with Saudi Arabia, citing national security. The report points to vulnerability of the UK defence industry to foreign bribery. National security considerations may obstruct oversight and accountability for large contracts handled by small groups of brokers, dealers and officials.
