ZAGREB, May 3, 2018 – The Group of States against Corruption of the Council of Europe (GRECO) warned in a report on Thursday of a “reversal of progress in the fight against corruption,” singling out Romania, Poland and Greece, while Croatia is among the eight countries with the highest number of non-implemented GRECO recommendations aimed at strengthening the capacity to combat corruption.
GRECO comprises 48 member states of the Council of Europe and the US. Since its establishment in 1999, it follows organisational standards in combating corruption, visiting member states and writing evaluation reports which include recommendations to strengthen the capacity to combat corruption.
GRECO president and Croatian Supreme Court vice president Marin Mrčela said 2017 was a “dark year” for anti-corruption. “Many allegations of corruption in public and private organisations have eroded people’s trust in them. Judges have been dismissed or imprisoned and the independent and impartial work of many prosecutors has been undermined; election campaigns have been polluted by corruption allegations; and journalists covering corruption have been silenced, imprisoned or killed,” said Mrčela.
In the report, GRECO criticised Greece, which was called on in early March to achieve visible progress in combating corruption as soon as possible.
Belgium is the country with the highest number of non-implemented recommendations (12), followed by Azerbaijan (6), Luxembourg (6), “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (6), Croatia (5), Ireland (5), Latvia (5) and Poland (5).
Belgium is the country with the highest proportion of non-implemented recommendations (63.2%), followed by Ireland (45.5%), Croatia (41.7%), Germany (37.5%), France (36.4%), Spain (36.4%), Luxembourg (33.3%), “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (31.6%), Latvia (31.3%) and Poland (31.3%).
Croatia is among the countries with a high proportion of non-implemented recommendations in respect of parliamentarians (66.7%) as well as with a high proportion of non-implemented or only partially implemented recommendations in respect of judges and prosecutors (66.7%).
