Back Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption calls on states to strengthen judicial independence and ensure political integrity and transparency

Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption calls on states to strengthen judicial independence and ensure political integrity and transparency

In its annual report for 2024, released today, the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) expresses serious concern about persistent threats to judicial independence in some member states. While acknowledging positive reforms in some countries, it urges states to strengthen the structures separating the three branches of power.

GRECO also calls for legislative reforms to close loopholes in the transparency of political funding by setting up stronger enforcement mechanisms and adopting deterrent sanctions for violations of political financing rules. The report notes that developments in recent years have shown the need to improve mechanisms to ensure the transparency of political financing and to update existing anti-corruption standards on party and electoral campaign financing.

GRECO’s president, David Meyer, said: “The global fight against corruption stands at a critical juncture. While significant progress has been made in strengthening anti-corruption frameworks, persistent and evolving challenges remain, particularly in enforcement, transparency and ongoing threats to judicial independence. Addressing these challenges requires renewed urgency and sustained political will at the national level.”

“In 2024, geopolitical shifts, economic instability and rapid technological advancements have reshaped corruption risks and governance dynamics. Elections in several member states have raised integrity concerns, including allegations of undue influence, irregular financing and foreign interference, emphasising the need to safeguard democratic processes through effective anti-corruption frameworks,” he added.

The annual report was published together with a report providing a comprehensive analysis of progress made and shortcomings identified so far in GRECO’s 5th evaluation round, which focuses on promoting integrity and preventing corruption within top executive functions of central governments and law enforcement agencies. Generally, the area where the most progress has been achieved so far is access to information and transparency. Progress has been particularly slow regarding top executive functions in areas such as integrity checks, post-employment restrictions, declaration review mechanisms, and contacts with lobbyists and third parties. The report underscores the need for clearer rules on perceived, potential and real conflicts of interests, asset declarations and lobbying, as well as more effective implementation of integrity frameworks and stronger oversight.

The most challenging areas in law enforcement agencies include declarations of assets, income, liabilities and interests, rotation and mobility policy, recruitment requirements and appointment procedures, as well as integrity checks.

In its annual report, GRECO found that the general level of compliance with its 5th evaluation round recommendations continued to be insufficient. By the end of 2024, it had published reports on 26 states evaluating compliance with these recommendations. According to the follow-up reports published as of 31 December 2024, states had fully or partly implemented 63% of GRECO’s recommendations concerning top executive functions of central governments (compared to 58% at the end of 2023). As regards law enforcement agencies, the proportion of fully or partly implemented recommendations grew from 67% to 71% between 2023 and 2024.

Regarding the 4th evaluation round on preventing corruption concerning MPs, judges and prosecutors, as of 31 December 2024, GRECO members states had fully implemented 59% of the recommendations and had partly implemented 29%. 12% of GRECO recommendations remained non-implemented. The highest proportion of non-implemented recommendations concerned MPs (16.6%) compared to judges (10.9%) and prosecutors (8.4%).

In March 2025, GRECO launched its 6th evaluation round, focusing on preventing corruption and promoting integrity in local and regional authorities. Estonia, Slovak Republic, Luxembourg and Slovenia are the first states to be evaluated in 2025.

 

Strasbourg 05/06/2025
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Ever since antiquity, corruption has been one of the most widespread and insidious of social evils. When it involves public officials and elected representatives, it is inimical to the administration of public affairs. Since the end of the 19th century, it has also been seen as a major threat in the private sphere, undermining the trust and confidence which are necessary for the maintenance and development of sustainable economic and social relations. It is estimated that hundreds of billions of Euros are paid in bribes every year. (more)

A word from the President of GRECO

Welcome to this window on GRECO’s world! 
I invite you to use it to look into the work we do with our 48 member States.  We use the dynamics of collective expertise and peer pressure to accomplish action by individual governments that will build durable barriers against corruption and bring to justice those who misuse their position for personal gain to the detriment of society as a whole.

Whether inspired by GRECO’s work, that of others with an anti-corruption agenda or our own experiences and principles, each one of us has a role to play in changing the mind-set to zero tolerance of corruption.

Members of GRECO Bureau

The composition of GRECO's Bureau is the following: Olivier GONIN (Switzerland), Panagiota VATIKALOU (Greece), Vice-President António DELICADO (Portugal), President David MEYER (United Kingdom), Lise CHIPAULT (France), Sorin TĂNASE (Romania) and Alexia KALISPERA (Cyprus).

 BEWARE OF SCAMS

It has been brought to our attention that the name of GRECO is being used for fraudulent purposes. These scams may appear to use letterhead with the GRECO logo, or contain the signatures of actual or fictitious senior GRECO officials, aiming to give the appearance of a legitimate GRECO correspondence.  Sometimes they may include legitimate website addresses to give a veneer of credibility to the scam.

Typically, the solicitations asked potential victims to provide personal information such as signatures or bank account information, and to pay certain advance fees, often described as "processing fees." In return, the potential victim was promised sums of money that the person soliciting the "fees" had no intention of paying. In some cases, those seeking the funds used the names of actual GRECO staff members to sign the letters in order to bolster their credibility.

GRECO, the Council of Europe's anti-corruption body, monitors the way in which its member countries implement the Council of Europe conventions and other instruments at national level. GRECO does not contact members of the public directly by email, telephone, Whatsapp or any other means about specific financial transactions or personal information.

We caution the public to be very wary of these and other similar solicitations that falsely claim to be affiliated with the GRECO. If you have received such a communication, we advise you to immediately terminate that contact.  If you have already paid them money, please contact your local law enforcement without delay.