EU unveils its first anti-corruption report: ‘Malta must review financing of political parties’

The European Commission has unveiled its first anti-corruption report as corruption across the European Union costs the European economy around €120 billion per year.

According to the EC, member states have taken many initiatives in recent years, but the results are uneven and more should be done to prevent and punish corruption. 

Results of a Eurobarometer survey on the attitudes of Europeans towards corruption show that three quarters (76%) of Europeans think that corruption is widespread and more than half (56%) think that the level of corruption in their country has increased over the past three years.

One out of twelve Europeans (8%) say they have experienced or witnessed a case of corruption in the past year. Eurobarometer results are available 

"Corruption undermines citizens' confidence in democratic institutions and the rule of law, it hurts the European economy and deprives States from much-needed tax revenue. Member States have done a lot in recent years to fight corruption, but today's Report shows that it is far from enough. The Report suggests what can be done, and I look forward to working with Member States to follow it up", said Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs.

In the case of Malta, the report finds that - together with the UK at 4% - Maltese respondents are least likely to say they experienced or witnessed corruption. However, only 45% of the Maltese trust their national justice system while 47% tend not to trust it. 

A European-wide survey held in October 2013 by Eurobarometer reveals that 58% of the Maltese think that their government is effectively fighting corruption.

In April, a similar survey found that, according to 51% of Maltese, corruption was the most negative effect of private companies on society.

In the 2013 Special Eurobarometer Survey on corruption, 83 % of respondents considered corruption to be a widespread problem in Malta (EU average 76 %) and 29 % said it affected their daily lives (EU average 26 %). 53 % said corruption was particularly widespread among officials issuing building permits (EU average 43 %).

According to the 2013 Special Eurobarometer, 2 % of respondents have been asked or expected to pay a bribe over the previous 12 months (EU average 4 %).

In the Eurobarometer business survey, 43 % of companies that competed for public contracts in the last three years say that corruption prevented them from winning (EU average 32 %).

Maltese respondents from the business sector perceive the following practices as widespread in public procurement: involvement of bidders in the design of specifications (48 %), unclear selection or evaluation criteria (48 %), conflicts of interest in bid evaluation (58 %), specifications tailor-made for particular companies (64 %), abuse of emergency grounds to justify the use of non-competitive or fast-track procedures (40 %) and collusive bidding (48 %).

57 % considered that corruption is widespread in public procurement managed by national authorities (EU average: 56 %) and 50 % in the case of local authorities (EU average: 60 %).

In its summary of Malta's case, the European Commission said Malta had made the prevention of corruption one of its priorities, which has led to reforms aiming at greater transparency.

However, certain issues still need to be addressed: "The European Commission suggests that Malta reviews the financing of political parties, which remains largely unregulated."

Coincidentally today, the government published a white paper on party financing.

The Commission also warned government that coordination among the institutions investigating corruption should also be improved to ensure the effective collection of evidence.

The Commission suggested that continued efforts are undertaken to improve the transparency of judicial appointments, and of decision-making in environmental planning.