The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) of the Council of Europe has called on the Portuguese authorities to step up their efforts to fully implement its recommendations to prevent corruption among members of parliament (MPs), judges and prosecutors.
In a follow-up report published today, GRECO concludes that Portugal has satisfactorily implemented five out of the fifteen recommendations contained in the Fourth Round Evaluation Report, adopted in 2015. All ten outstanding recommendations remain partly implemented.
Regarding MPs, the report notes as a positive step that the Conference of Parliamentary Committee Chairpersons regularly checks compliance with deadlines in the law-making process established by the Rules of Procedure.
Portugal has made some progress by adopting rules for MPs regarding the acceptance of gifts, hospitality and other privileges. Guidelines for MPs on the acceptance of gifts, travel and hospitality are now available online. Moreover, the Entity for Transparency, responsible for evaluating MPs’ declarations of income, assets and interests, is now operational, and the electronic platform on which MPs submit their single asset declarations is also operational.
However, GRECO regrets that lobbying remains unregulated and that an impact assessment of the effectiveness of the system in addressing conflicts of interest among MPs has not yet been carried out. Furthermore, the applicable enforcement rules still lack adequate sanctions for minor breaches of financial declaration requirements.
As regards judges, GRECO notes some progress in providing access to final first instance court judgments online. It also welcomes the adoption of the Code of Conduct for Judges of the Judicial Courts and the establishment of an Ethics Council.
Regrettably, there has been no progress in enhancing the composition of judicial councils to safeguard judicial independence and the selection method for Supreme Court judges remains unchanged.
The report welcomes as a positive step that the Code of Conduct for Public Prosecutors now serves as the basis for initial and ongoing integrity training for all prosecutors. The Ethics and Deontology Unit within the Public Prosecution High Council is currently preparing to provide confidential counselling. Nevertheless, GRECO emphasises that the internal rules for the periodic evaluation of the integrity and compliance with the standards of professional conduct still lack clear provisions and explicit criteria on ethics.
Since the majority of the recommendations remain partially implemented, GRECO concludes that the level of compliance with the recommendations remains "globally unsatisfactory" and requests that the Portuguese authorities provide a report on the progress made in implementing the outstanding recommendations by 31 March 2026.
* unofficial translation, as provided by the authorities of Portugal
