The Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) today called for further measures to prevent corruption in Norway in respect of persons entrusted with top executive functions, including ministers, state secretaries and political advisers, as well as members of the police.
Norway relies substantially on high expectations of and trust in its senior officials. It sets conflicts of interest, financial disclosure and other integrity related standards, but violations of those have limited formal consequences other than political repercussions. Thus, GRECO recommends stepping up accountability and enforcement mechanisms. Likewise, more efforts are required to ensure formalised training and counselling channels on ethical matters for all senior executive officials. GRECO also calls for further action on rules on how persons with top executive functions engage with lobbyists, as well as on revolving doors.
GRECO acknowledges the steps taken by the police to strengthen internal control and audit systems. It, however, notes that more can be done to ensure a better coordinated and proactive integrity policy, including by refining risk assessment and information gathering tools, as well as better monitoring and cross-checking of integrity-related registers (business interests, data on disciplinary measures, vetting and re-vetting, internal deviation reports, etc.). Additional action can also be taken to intensify training and awareness-raising activities on integrity-related measures and whistleblowing within the force.
The implementation of the recommendations addressed to Norway will be assessed by GRECO in 2022 through its compliance procedure.
