Tag: corruption

Former German President Christian Wulff will go on trial in November on corruption charges, more than 18 months after the man once tipped as a successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel resigned from the largely ceremonial role in disgrace.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy yesterday (15 July) rejected calls to resign over a financing scandal in his ruling centre-right People's Party, saying he would not allow the matter to hold back his reform plans.

Petr Nečas, the Czech Republic's conservative prime minister, was forced to quit yesterday (16 June) over a graft and spying scandal involving his closest aide, throwing the European Union member state into a period of uncertainty over who will form the next government.

Bulgarians head to the polls on Sunday (12 May) to elect a new Parliament nearly three months after public outrage forced the government to resign. The snap election comes amid the fallout of a wiretapping scandal that exposed abuse of power.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is meeting Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Moscow today (21 March), slammed the EU for behaving "like a bull in a china shop" on the proposed Cyprus bailout. Meanwhile, a prominent Russian opposition leader said the Kremlin was conducting an operation to save its “dirty money” in Cyprus.

The European Commission is pushing to secure a World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement that would cut red tape in trade and increase worldwide income by over €30 billion. Two thirds of this would go to developing countries.

Tens of thousands of Bulgarians protested in more than 20 cities on Sunday (17 February) against high electricity bills and called for Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his centre-right government to resign. [Watch photo gallery by Dnevnik, the EurActiv partner in Bulgaria.]

The European Parliament debated for nearly two hours yesterday (6 February) the state of democracy in Bulgaria, a country described as the "weak link" in the EU and a threat to European values across the continent.

Ukrainian lawyers told investors in Brussels yesterday (31 January) that they had little if any chance of doing business involving the use of land for agriculture or other activities, unless they hire a local partner to keep them “away from disappointment”. 

The European Union has frozen about €890 million in aid earmarked for building Polish roads because of a suspected fraud by contractors, a Commission spokeswoman said on Wednesday (30 January).

Romanian members of parliament voted overwhelmingly yesterday (22 January) to boost their immunity from prosecution, a move set to annoy a European Commission already exasperated by Romania's hesitant efforts to tackle high-level corruption. An EU report on Romania under the cooperation and verification mechanism is expected next week.

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.