The fight against corruption in the European Union is stagnating. This is one of the main findings of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published today (Tuesday). The non-governmental organization warns that corruption has destabilizing effects also for European democracies. In addition, the vulnerability of states to organized crime grows if corruption is not combated decisively.

According to the current study, the European Union is one of the world regions with the lowest perception of corruption, but it is far from being a model student. In Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, the perception of corruption remains very high. In Hungary in particular, the situation has consistently deteriorated over the past ten years. The country is now at the bottom of the rankings in the EU. It is also worth noting that the United Kingdom dropped a full five points last year, making it one of the biggest relegated countries.

Daniel Freund (Greens), co-chair of the European Parliament’s anti-corruption working group, comments:

“Corruption is one of the biggest threats to democracy in Europe. It is worrying that the fight against corruption in the EU has been stagnating for years. This makes Europe more vulnerable to organized crime and the influence of non-democratic states. We must not allow third countries to damage our democracies through corruption. The example of Hungary shows how far democratic states can fall in the perception of corruption if we do not take decisive countermeasures.” 

“The current corruption scandal in the European Parliament makes it clear that we must fight corruption not only in the EU member states, but also in the EU institutions. Lip service will not help us here. We must take concrete measures to make democratic institutions more transparent and thus more resistant to illegitimate influence from outside. Corruption must not be allowed to pay off. It is good that in the case of Hungary, the European Union has for the first time imposed painful financial sanctions on a corrupt system.”

The results of Transparency International’s study can be found at the following link: https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022