Tag: corruption

EU leaders who meet today (7 February) to work on the 2014-2020 budget are expected to cut spending for development aid up to 13%, says MEP Eva Joly, chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Development. She calls on EU leaders not to sacrifice development aid, which she calls “peace insurance for Europe”. 

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Spain's ruling People's Party denied today (31 January) that the party passed payments from business donors secretly to the premier and other party leaders after a newspaper published what it said were unofficial party accounts.

The European Commission’s report on Romania, due to be published today (30 January), appears to turn the page of an extremely difficult 2012 year for EU-Romania relations, according to an advance copy seen by EurActiv.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas survived a vote of no confidence yesterday (17 January), after coming under sharp attack for an amnesty granted by outgoing President Václav Klaus that halted investigations of dozens of financial crimes.

The fight against corruption is one of the key conditions for Serbia's EU integration and one of the current government's priorities. Serbian authorities on 12 December arrested one of the richest people the country in a crackdown on graft, writes EurActiv Serbia.

The simple expectation from the Ukrainian authorities that the EU won't let Ukraine transformation into a new Belarus allows the current Ukrainian administration to manipulate the position of official Brussels in favour of itself, says Viktor Tkachuk.

Without a stricter Europe-wide approach to combat corruption in sport, one of humanity's oldest pastimes risks losing its value, concludes a recent EU-commissioned study by KEA, a Brussels-based consultancy. The think-tank Sport and Citizenship says illegal betting and the recent examples of match-fixing pose among the biggest threats. In the opinion of Philippe Kern, Europe needs stricter laws with new and better methods for prevention, detection and punishment to combat the problem.

A European Parliament panel voted yesterday (18 September) to strengthen financial disclosure rules designed to deter corruption in foreign mining, petroleum and forestry investments, putting the draft EU rules in line with a stringent law adopted this summer in the United States.

EXCLUSIVE: The European Commission is using unprecedented language in its report on Romania’s progress under the monitoring mechanism of judicial reform and fight against corruption, to be published today (18 July). EurActiv reveals the contents of the report.

Bulgaria and Romania are set to fail their biggest test since their accession on 1 January 2007 with the forthcoming publication of crucial progress reports on the reform of law enforcement.

Adrian Năstase, Romania's prime minister between 2000 and 2004, attempted to commit suicide yesterday (20 June) shortly after being sentenced by the Supreme Court to two years in prison on corruption charges, police said.

Bulgaria passed a new law yesterday night (3 May) allowing the treasury to confiscate private assets that cannot be validated by a legal source of income, reported Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner publication in Bulgaria. The measure marks a further step in the country's attempt to win the EU's confidence in its judiciary system.

A former Greek minister was arrested today (11 March) on money laundering charges, in the most high-profile case against a politician over scandals spanning decades in the debt-laden country.

EU leaders need to have a high-level political debate on the surge of 'xenophobia' and anti-European attitudes that threaten integration, Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu said during his first political visit to Brussels yesterday (15 March).

Romanian Justice Minister Cătălin Predoiu said his country had made unprecedented efforts to reform its law enforcement system, suggesting that Bucharest wanted to see the EU monitoring mechanism put in place five years ago removed by the summer.

Bulgaria and Romania are struggling harder than the former communist countries of Central Europe to integrate into the European Union, but a leading French researcher says the decision to take them on board was the right one. Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU on 1 January 2007. 

The Bulgarian Parliament approved the appointment of new members of the Inspectorate to the Supreme Judicial Council, ignoring the Union of Judges in Bulgaria which said the process was secretive and undermined judicial independence. Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner in Bulgaria, reports.

The annual report of Transparency International revealed the poor performance of many EU member states in fighting corruption, with the poorest results recorded in Bulgaria and Romania, followed by crisis-hit countries Greece and Italy. Tellingly, some EU candidate countries appear to be doing better than current EU members.

Serbia's new Anti-Corruption Agency faces high expectations to reduce both graft among high-level officials and the need for citizens to 'grease the wheels' of the bureaucracy to receive permits and basic public services. In an exclusive interview with EurActiv Serbia, the organisation's director, Zorana Marković, presents her plan to make institutions 'corruption-resistant' and warns that the country's existing legislation is insufficient to protect whistleblowers. 

Former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel yesterday (5 September) announced that he was quitting parliament amid a widening corruption scandal centred on Telekom Austria. Schüssel himself has not been linked to the cases.

The European Court of Justice confirmed yesterday (28 July) that the Italian switchover from analogue to digital TV has been illegally subsidised, favouring the channels of Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A mammoth reimbursement is now due by his Mediaset media empire.

The leaders of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, should swallow their pride and allow external experts to administer EU funding in their countries, Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, a German liberal MEP of Greek descent, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

EU home affairs ministers are today (9 June) set to postpone enlarging the Schengen border-free area for an indefinite period, despite calls to the contrary from the European Parliament, which voted overwhelmingly in favour of Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the EU's passport-free zone.

Cristian Ghinea argues in an open letter that Romanian MEP Adrian Severin should have his parliamentary immunity removed so that the Romanian anti-corruption office can investigate allegations of corruption against him.