TI Position

• The EU must do more to counteract corruption. Prevention of and the fight against corruption should be a priority in the EU.
• Corruption occurs in old and new EU Member States alike.
• Adequate EU legislation and mechanisms against corruption are more needed than ever in the EU.
• EU and Member State leaders and decision-makers have to take a clear and public stance against corruption.
• Existing anti-corruption instruments such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) must be implemented by the EU and its Member States.
• The special monitoring (‘Cooperation and Verification Mechanism’) in Bulgaria and Romania should be a model for future EU newcomers and the EU in general.

Issues

• Corruption in the EU undermines good governance, the rule of law and fundamental rights.
• Corruption leads to the misallocation or misuse of EU resources, harms the private sector and distorts the EU internal market.
• The push for progress in the fight against corruption considerably slows down as soon as countries become EU Member States.
• More needs to be done to protect people who report irregularities ('whistleblowers').

Press Releases

• 12 February 2009: Bulgaria and Romania must produce concrete and irreversible anti-corruption results. Read more.
• 23 July 2008: TI supports freeze of EU funds to Bulgaria, urges accelerated reform in Romania, other EU states. Read more.
• 27 June 2007: Accession is not the end of the line: Bulgaria and Romania need to ratchet up pace of reform, but older member states have deficits to answer for, too. Read more.

Written Contributions for EC Consultations

• November 2008: ’The EU should do more in the fight against corruption’. Read more.

Events

• International Anti-Corruption Conference 2008 Athens: Workshop with high-level EU panellists on 'Lessons learned from the EU anti-corruption policy'. Download a report here.

Agenda

• January 2010: Start of the Spanish EU presidency
• December 2009: Council decides on ‘Stockholm Programme’
• December 2009: International Anti-Corruption Day
• October 2009: Council decides on EU position related to UNCAC (United Nations Convention Against Corruption)
• July - December 2009: Swedish EU presidency
• June 2009: EC political report on Bulgaria and Romania
• February 2009: EC technical monitoring report on Bulgaria and Romania
• December 2008: Council of Ministers of the EU adopts EPAC ('European Partners Against Corruption')
• December 2008: EC ratified UNCAC
• July 2008: EC freezes EU funds for Bulgaria

Research results

The trust of EU citizens in Member States and the EU to fight corruption is very low!

• TI's Global Corruption Barometer 2009. This GCB presents the main findings of a public opinion survey that explores the general public’s views of corruption in 69 countries, among which 18 EU Member States. Read more.
• TI's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2008. The broad decline of EU Member State’s CPI scores and the high profile scandals in the public as well as private sectors in some EU Member States point to the fact that anti-corruption measures should be made a priority. The CPI results can be interpreted as sign that there is an increasing awareness of the issue of corruption in the EU. Read more.
• 2008 European Commission's public consultation on the question "Freedom, Security and Justice: What will be the future?". This consultation on priorities for the next five years (2010-2014) shows that the fight against corruption should be a top priority. 88% of the contributors responded to the question if the EU should do more about corruption with “yes”. Read more.
• Eurobarometer survey 2008 (European Commission) on the attitudes of Europeans towards corruption (released on 30 October 2008), reveals that, overall, corruption in the EU Member States is seen as widespread with 3 out of 4 citizens expressing the view that it is a major problem in their country. Download here.
• Eurobarometer survey 2006 (European Commission): EU citizens perceive corruption as being a problem in the EU, according to the EU's Eurobarometer on 'Organised, cross-border crime and corruption' (2006). Download here.

Regional TI Projects

• 2009: 'Blowing the whistle harder: Enhancing whistleblower protection in the EU' in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia.
• 2009: 'Countdown to impunity: Corruption-related Statutes of Limitation in the EU'. The project will be implemented by TI national chapters/partners in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Lithuania. Key events in Berlin, Brussels, Budapest and Bucharest, and EU-wide civil society engagegement.
• Ongoing: TI 'Advovacy and Legal Advice Centres'(ALAC) in the EU: Centres empower citizens in the fight against corruption by providing victims with practical assistance to pursue complaints and addres their grievances. The ALACs also offer valuable data collection to help advocate for systemic change in the EU. Read more.

Work of TI national chapters in EU Member States:

• TI Ireland: 2009: National Integrity Study. Read more on the website of TI Ireland.
• TI Germany: 2009: Strengthening of independence in judiciary: Transparency International welcomes recommendation of the Council of Europe for Germany.
• TI Romania: 2008 Project: Monitoring of EU structural funds in Romania. Read more on the website of TI Romania.
• TI Bulgaria: 2007: "Anti-Corruption measures as political criteria for EU accession: Lessons from the Bulgaria experience". Download here.
• TI Romania: 2007: Romanian National Corruption Report; covering the period from May 2007 to May 2008. Download here.
• TI Bulgaria: 2005-2006: Civil Control over the work of Court Experts in Bulgaria: “Court Experts in Bulgaria - Ethical Standards and Mechanisms for Control over their Activity”. Download here.
• TI France: Working Group on judiciary resources/means in the fight against corruption. Read more on the website of TI France.
• TI Hungary: Training for judges on corruption risks in Hungary. Read more on the website of TI Hungary.