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Georgia: protect the messengers who protect citizens’ rights

24 April 2015 in Anti-corruption movement, Civil society, Europe and Central Asia, Politics and government

In the past year there have been a number of high-profile verbal attacks on the leaders of civil society organisations in Georgia who take issue with some of what the government is doing. Rather than trying to undermine the messengers, the government should listen to the concerns they represent. In January a former prime minister […]

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UK company transparency: one less place to hide

2 April 2015 in Europe and Central Asia, Politics and government, Private sector

It’s finally happened. UK legislation requiring the true owners of UK companies to be made public, received the final sign off in Parliament last week. Under the new law, UK-registered companies must submit information on their true owners – such as full name and nationality – to Companies House which up until now has not […]

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Give us our daily scandal

26 March 2015 in Access to information, Accountability, Anti-corruption movement, Civil society, Cost of Corruption, Europe and Central Asia, European Union, Impunity, Lobbying, Measurement and Research, Politics and government, Whistleblowing

When Transparency International announces the results of the Corruption Perceptions Index in December and Italy performs badly again, there will always be at least one commentator who feigns surprise. How could it happen? Italy has the same score as Bulgaria and Senegal again? The index must be wrong.’ The writer unquestionably accepts the scores for […]

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Northern shadows: Norway doesn’t always practise what it preaches

4 February 2015 in Anti-corruption Conventions, Europe and Central Asia, Oil and gas, Private sector

Norway regularly features near the top of rankings for quality of governance, health and education, including Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. In 2014 it was ranked by this index as the fifth cleanest country in the world, out of 175 countries. It is one of the few resource-rich countries that have managed to escape the resource curse, […]

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To the new Greek government: keep your promise to fight corruption

27 January 2015 in Civil society, Europe and Central Asia, Politics and government

During the last ten years Greek politicians have always promised to fight corruption during election periods. However, after coming to power the results were meagre. In 2005 Konstantinos Karamanlis did not follow through on his campaign promises. In 2009 George Papandreou’s commitments produced a good law that required the publication of all government decisions and budgets […]

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No such thing as a cheap lunch

13 January 2015 in Access to information, Accountability, Europe and Central Asia, Health

Investigations and surveys by Transparency International Slovakia show that healthcare procurement is considered corrupt in Slovakia, but over the past years only a handful of cases have been formally investigated and no one has been brought to justice. That is why monitoring procurement in healthcare has become a priority for us and why we decided to […]

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Greeting 2015: Is there any hope for those fighting corruption in Turkey?

13 January 2015 in Civil society, Europe and Central Asia, Politics and government

Update: On 20 January, Transparency International Turkey wrote to Turkish MPs, calling on them to vote against closing the investigation into corruption allegations. Read the letter here. A new year signals a fresh start for the people around the world and is a symbol of hope for the future. But do we corruption fighters have […]

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Image of icicles in Greenland

Fighting corruption above the Arctic Circle

8 January 2015 in Civil society, Europe and Central Asia, Miscellaneous, Politics and government

Greenland is a semi-autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark that is half the size of Europe with a population of just 57,000. With the prospect of a fast-developing oil and mining industry, this small community needs to recognise the corruption challenges it will be facing in 2015. Transparency International Greenland’s chair, Anita Hoffer sat […]

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Lives on the line as Serbia battles healthcare corruption

22 December 2014 in Accountability, Anti-corruption movement, Civil society, Cost of Corruption, Europe and Central Asia, Health, Impunity, Measurement and Research, Politics and government, Poverty and development, Private sector

A number of doctors and a head nurse at a hospital in Nis, Serbia’s third largest city, were arrested last month for allegedly accepting bribes of up to €13,000 and using their networks to secure healthcare jobs for relatives. Such news echoes results from Transparency International’s 2013 Global Corruption Barometer, which revealed that 81 per […]

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Europe, Central Asia and the state of corruption in 2014: the gold standard?

3 December 2014 in Accountability, Civil society, Europe and Central Asia, European Union, Impunity, Lobbying, Measurement and Research, People power, Politics and government

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that out of 175 countries in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, the once great economic hope of many – Turkey – suffered one of the biggest drops in score (down five points to 45 out of 100 on a scale where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 very […]

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