EU 28 CORRUPTION STATUS

Corruption continues to be a challenge for Europe. Affecting all EU Member States, corruption costs the European economy around € 120 billion per year. Member States have taken many initiatives in recent years, but the results are uneven and more should be done to prevent and punish corruption.

Both the nature and level of corruption, and the effectiveness of measures taken to fight it, vary from one Member State to another. Corruption deserves greater attention in all Member States.

Here are some of the main corruption-related trends across the EU:

1. Control mechanisms

• Use of preventive policies (e.g. ethical rules, awareness-raising measures, easy access to public interest information). There are large differences between Member States concerning prevention of corruption. For some, effective prevention has contributed to a strong reputation of little corruption, others have implemented preventive policies in an uneven way and with limited results.
• External and internal control mechanisms. In many Member States, internal controls on procedures within public authorities (particularly at local level) are weak and uncoordinated.
• Conflicts of interest. Rules on conflicts of interest vary across the EU, and the mechanisms for checking declarations of conflicts of interest are often insufficient. Sanctions for violations of rules are rarely applied and often weak.

2. Prosecution and punishment

• Criminal law rules making corruption a crime are largely in place, in line with the standards of the Council of Europe, UN and EU legislation. Still, EU Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA on combating corruption in the private sector has been transposed by Member States into national law in uneven way.
• The efficiency of law enforcement and prosecution in investigating corruption varies widely across the EU. Outstanding results can be seen in some Member States. In some others successful prosecutions are rare or investigations lengthy.
• Comprehensive corruption crime statistics are missing in most Member States, complicating comparison and assessment. Procedural rules, including rules on lifting immunities of politicians, obstruct corruption cases in certain Member States.

3. Political dimension

• Political accountability. Integrity in politics remains an issue for many EU States. For instance, codes of conduct within political parties or elected assemblies at central or local level are often missing or lack teeth.
• Financing of political parties. Although many Member States have adopted stronger rules on party financing, considerable shortcomings remain. Dissuasive sanctions against illegal party funding are rarely imposed in the EU.

4. Risk areas

• Within Member States, corruption risks are generally higher at regional and local levels, where checks and balances and internal controls tend to be weaker, than at central level.
• Urban development and construction, as well as health case, are sectors vulnerable to corruption in a number of Member States.
• Some shortcomings exist regarding the supervision of state-owned companies, increasing their vulnerability to corruption.
• Petty corruption remains a widespread problem only in a few Member States.
• Public procurement is an area vulnerable to corruption. This is a very important area for the EU economy, as approximately one fifth of the EU’s GDP is spent every year by public entities buying goods, works and services.

Member States 

1. Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Austria : Low level of bribery.
2. Hungary, Slovakia, Poland: In these countries, one sector, namely healthcare, provides the bulk of instances of bribery. There is evidence that structural problems in healthcare provide incentives to pay a bribe for medical staff.
3. Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Italy: Bribery is rare but corruption in a broader sense is a serious concern.
4. Croatia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Greece: These countries are lagging behind in both perceptions and actual experience of corruption.
5. Latvia, Malta, Ireland, Cyprus do not show results that diverge considerably from the EU average on any of these aspects.

 At European level, three quarters of respondents (76 %) think that corruption is widespread in their own country. The countries where respondents are most likely to think corruption is widespread are Greece (99 %), Italy (97 %), Lithuania, Spain and the Czech Republic (95 % in each). A quarter of Europeans (26 %)consider that they are personally affected by corruption in their daily lives. People are most likely to say they are personally affected by corruption in Spain and Greece (63 % in each), Cyprus and Romania (57 % in each) and Croatia (55 %); and least likely to do so in Denmark (3 %), France and Germany (6 % in each).

Around three quarters of Europeans (73 %) say that bribery and the use of connections is often the easiest way of obtaining certain public services in their country. This belief is most widespread in Greece (93 %), Cyprus (92 %), Slovakia and Croatia (89 % in each).

Around two in three Europeans (67 %) think the financing of political parties is not sufficiently transparent and supervised. Most likely to hold that view are respondents from Spain (87 %), Greece (86 %), and the Czech Republic (81 %), while those least likely to hold this view are respondents from Denmark (47 %), the UK (54 %), Sweden (55 %) and Finland (56 %).

Just under a quarter of Europeans (23 %) agree that their Government’s efforts are effective in tackling corruption; around a quarter (26 %) think that there are enough successful prosecutions in their country to deter people from corrupt practices.