Back 20th anniversary conference and plenary meeting of GRECO

20th anniversary conference and plenary meeting of GRECO

The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body (GRECO) will organise a conference on 17 June to mark its 20th anniversary. Held under the auspices of the French Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, the event will discuss GRECO’s achievements in assisting states to improve their capacity to prevent and combat corruption, assess current challenges and anticipate emerging issues. Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland, French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet and President of the Parliamentary Assembly Liliane Maury Pasquier will open the event together with Thea Tsulukiani, Minister of Justice of Georgia, Etilda Gjonaj, Minister of Justice of Albania, Laurent Anselmi, Minister of Justice of Monaco, and Marin Mrčela, President of GRECO. Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Commission, will deliver a speech.

Following the conference, GRECO will hold a plenary meeting to discuss evaluation reports on the prevention of corruption in respect of central governments, including top executive functions, and law enforcement on Denmark, Spain and Slovakia. On the agenda there are also compliance reports – concerning various evaluation rounds - on Switzerland, Denmark, Russia, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Lithuania, Malta, Iceland and Romania (including the follow-up to Romania’s ad hoc evaluation). GRECO will also discuss a proposal to carry out an urgent ad hoc evaluation of Greece. Finally, GRECO will decide on a request by the European Union to have observer status.

Strasbourg 17-21/06/2019
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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: António DELICADO (Portugal), Vita HABJAN BARBORIČ (Slovenia), David MEYER (United Kingdom), President Marin MRČELA (Croatia), Vice-President Monika OLSSON (Sweden), Olivier GONIN (Switzerland) and Panagiota VATIKALOU (Greece).

 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.