In the field of asset recovery, in December 2016 the Commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation on the mutual recognition of freezing orders and will further explore the possibility of introducing non-conviction based confiscation. The Commission has worked together with Parliament on a number of legislative initiatives of relevance in the fight against corruption. Work to fight fraud and corruption risks in the implementation of EU funds is also a corner stone of our anti-corruption policy framework, as the legislative work to establish a European Public Prosecutor's Office and the directive on the protection of the financial interests of the EU testify. Further measures have been taken or are under discussion to increase transparency, for example, concerning beneficial ownership and corporate tax transparency, or the contacts between EU decision-makers and interest representatives. Specific anti-corruption acquis includes the 1997 Convention on fighting corruption involving officials of the EU or officials of Member States and the 2003 Framework Decision on combating corruption in the private sector aims to criminalise both active and passive bribery.Įuropean legislation in other areas such as anti-money laundering and public procurement include important anti-corruption provisions. In its Article 83, the Treaty recognises corruption as a 'euro-crime', therefore the EU holds legislating powers to regulate this area. In particular, the EU should ensure a high level of security, including through the prevention and combating of crime and the approximation of criminal laws. The Union has a general right to act in the field of anti-corruption policies, within the limits established by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. One tool to help anti-corruption efforts is ensuring a common high standard of legislation, either specifically on corruption, or incorporating anti-corruption elements in other sectoral legislation. While the European Commission regularly receives reports about alleged corruption cases in Member States from citizens, it has no powers to intervene in individual cases. The Commission's anti-corruption efforts are centred around the following main pillars: mainstreaming anti-corruption provisions in EU horizontal and sectorial legislation and policy monitoring performances in the fight against corruption by Member States supporting the implementation of anti-corruption measures at national level via funding, technical assistance and experience-sharing improving the quantitative evidence base for anti-corruption policy.
Together with the anti-corruption experience-sharing programme launched by the Commission in 2015, these efforts have encouraged national authorities to better implement laws and policies against corruption. All EU countries have designated a national contact point to facilitate information exchange on anti-corruption policy. Since then, the EU Anti-Corruption Report has served as the basis for dialogue with national authorities while also informing broader debates across Europe. The Report also showed that corruption deserves greater attention in all EU countries. The EU Anti-Corruption Report, published in 2014, demonstrated that the nature and scope of corruption vary from one EU country to another and that the effectiveness of anti-corruption policies is quite different.
It is in the common interest to ensure that all Member States have effective anti-corruption policies and the EU supports the Member States in pursuing this work.
With the adoption of the Stockholm Programme, the Commission has been given a political mandate to measure efforts in the fight against corruption and to develop a comprehensive EU anti-corruption policy, in close cooperation with the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO). The Treaty on the Functioning of the EU recognises corruption as a "euro-crime", listing it among the particularly serious crimes with a cross-border dimension for which minimum rules on the definition of criminal offences and sanctions may be established (TFEU Art. Most importantly, corruption undermines trust in governments, public institutions and democracy in general. In addition to allowing economic inefficiencies to flourish, corruption adversely affects government objectives ranging from improving income distribution, to better environmental protection. However, the true social cost of corruption cannot be measured merely by the amount of bribes paid or public funds diverted. 37% of EU businesses consider corruption to be a problem for them when doing business.EB 60% agree with the statement that bribery and the use of connections is often the easiest way to obtain certain public services.
0 kommentar(er)
