In its evaluation report published today, GRECO urges the Slovak Republic to strengthen the effectiveness of its legal framework and policies to prevent corruption amongst persons with top executive functions (ministers and other senior government officials) and the police force.
The report was prepared against the backdrop of repeated mass demonstrations demanding stronger integrity of politicians and the police in the wake of the murder of a journalist who was investigating corruption links between the political world and criminal networks.
According to GRECO, there are currently a number of systemic weaknesses that need urgent attention to bolster corruption prevention in Government. An important qualitative step would be the adoption of an action plan targeting corruption risks specific to government work. This should go hand in hand with laying down clear integrity standards and rules for ministers, state secretaries, political advisers and senior officials, in the form of an enforceable, well-publicised code of conduct.
GRECO also puts strong emphasis on the crying need for increased transparency concerning top persons in government in order to significantly improve accountability to the people. That is particularly true in several respects: contacts with lobbyists should be put on record and published; all gifts should be duly registered and made public; and more detailed information should be made available to the public concerning asset and interest declarations.
In order to address effectively highly latent corruption problems within the police, GRECO stresses that prevention efforts must truly be stepped up, starting with the drafting of an operational action plan, identifying risk-prone areas and emerging trends. Another key aspect is the revision of the existing Code of Ethics for the Police Force, to go beyond a catalogue of principles and to supplement it with a practical manual providing real-life examples, forming the foundation of police training. Decisive steps must also be taken to ensure that the protection of whistleblowers from within the police becomes really effective in practice so as encourage the reporting of corrupt misconduct, currently inexistent.
GRECO also considers that a number of areas require more stringent rules to boost prevention within the police. This includes stronger security vetting of police members not only upon recruitment but also crucially throughout their career. Further safeguards should also be in place to guarantee that police misconduct is properly investigated, with a sufficient level of transparency so as to gain public trust.
Contact: Jaime Rodriguez, Spokeperson/Media officer, tél. + 33 3 90 21 47 04