Debugging democracy: Open data for political integrity in Europe

The report, Debugging democracy: open data for political integrity in Europe, highlights how data can be used to combat political corruption. It uses new research to explore asset and interest disclosure, political financing, and lobbying and reveals a patchwork of ineffective legislation across the region.

The report also underlines structural deficiencies in both legislation and the systems designed to prevent corruption, by analysing and comparing 18 datasets pertaining to lobbying, public officials’ financial interests and political finance. Data from France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain, as well as datasets released by the European Commission and European Parliament was analysed.

Of the eight EU Member States and institutions surveyed, none have adequate measures to prevent undue influence on public policies and decisions.