In spite of commendable progress that Austria has made in recent years in domestic anti-corruption policies, those for parliamentarians are still at an early stage. Rules are needed to manage conflicts of interest when they arise and a code of conduct should be put in place to improve poor public perceptions of elected officials, according to a new report by the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).
For example, in spite of criminal code provisions against bribery of parliamentarians, GRECO found that no preventive or administrative rules provide for prohibitions or restrictions for MPs to accept gifts and other advantages, or a specific procedure to be followed for reporting and authorising, for declaring or for returning undesired or unacceptable benefits.
In its latest evaluation of Austria, based on Austrian responses to a questionnaire and on-site visits, GRECO noted that in recent polls over 30% of respondents still consider it acceptable to offer a gift or a favour in order to obtain something from the public administration or a public service. This percentage is significantly higher than the EU average.
