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Hungary’s whistleblower law offers no real protection

Since a new government came to power in 2010, Hungary has witnessed the emergence of new patterns and forms of corruption. The symbiotic relationship between the government and powerful business groups has deepened. Many oversight institutions have become less independent. Government decision-making lacks transparency, as private interests have captured the legislative process. As a result, […]

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Whistleblowers: regulators of last resort

Over the past half-century, national governments have developed complex regulatory structures to oversee public health, banking, utilities, food safety, communications, transportation and other industries. By the 1980s, however, the United States and United Kingdom began pushing the policy pendulum in the other direction – deregulating industries sector by sector. Through international organisations, governments around the […]

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Transparent Education wins lawsuit against Hungary’s biggest university

According to a 21 October ruling, Hungary’s largest university – Eötvös Loránd (ELTE) – is being ordered to release the names of student union members in the law faculty who received “public service scholarships” and bonus payments for participating in the student government. This groundbreaking ruling comes in the wake of a freedom of information […]

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Spain’s new law on transparency a good first step

After a summer of corruption scandals in Spanish politics, the country’s Congress passed a new piece of legislation on transparency and access to information this September. Public tolerance for corruption had reached boiling point with companies, parties and even the royal family seemingly acting with impunity after graft allegations. The new legislation is now headed […]

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Lights, camera – was there G20 action?

So now that the G20 dust has settled and the media circus has dispersed, did the representatives of two-thirds of the global population make any meaningful decisions in St Petersburg? The final St Petersburg G20 Leaders Declaration has 11 paragraphs devoted to corruption efforts. This greater visibility is welcome progress from the two sentences included […]

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Corruption is still a problem for Croatia

Croatia becomes EU member number 28 on 1 July. After Tudjman and Milosevic and a bloody war 20 years ago in the Balkans, this is definitely good news for both the European Union and Croatia. The new story of the Balkans started with disintegration 20-odd years ago, but Croatia’s membership is a clear sign of […]

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Troubled waters: European neighbourhood progress reports published

This post was originally published in TI-EU‘s blog. Today the EU published progress reports for its neighbourhood partner countries, which also looks at reforms in governance and anti-corruption. It is no secret that the EU’s closest neighbours generally face considerable problems of corruption in their public institutions. The 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index places almost all European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries below 50, […]

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The banks of Cyprus and the pursuit of integrity

The bail out of the troubled banking sector in Cyprus has taken on serious political overtones as the crisis deepens. During the past few weeks Cyprus has been accused of failing to combat money laundering and fraud and that Russian oligarchs seek refuge for their money in this “tax haven” country. Now the strongest members […]

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Swiss vote to regulate CEO pay

This Sunday the Swiss voted in favor of a constitutional initiative entitled “Initiative against abusive remunerations”. This follows the proposal of similar measure in the European Parliament, which we blogged about on Friday. The initiative, which applies to all quoted companies, squarely prohibits welcome packages and golden parachutes as well as bonuses in relation with […]

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