THE EU POLICY OF PREVENTION AND COMBATING CORRUPTION: KEY CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS

Abstract

The article explores key challenges and problems of the EU’s policy of prevention and combating corruption. Based on the analysis of the European Commission’s exploratory collection of EU-level statistics, the findings of the recent Eurobarometer survey on businesses’ attitudes towards corruption in the EU, the conclusions of first EU Anti-corruption Report, as well as analytical materials prepared by the Commission under the EU economic policy coordination cycle, the article highlights the following key challenges and problems of EU’s anti-corruption policy: proper measuring of corruption, reducing the opportunities for corruption, ensuring an effective criminal law response to corruption, identifying areas of public policy that are the most vulnerable to corruption risks. The European Commission examines the challenges associated with two specific sectors: public procurement and healthcare. Public procurement is a significant part of the national economies in the EU. Given the level of financial flows generated and the close interaction between the public and the private sectors, public procurement is highly vulnerable to corruption. The first EU Anti-corruption Report concluded that public procurement appeared to be most vulnerable to corruption in sectors such as construction, energy, transport, defence and healthcare. Based on prosecutions for corruption in public procurement in the EU Member States, the most frequent problems are at the pre-bidding stage. The EU’s healthcare sector is one of the sectors where petty corruption is a risk in some circumstances. It takes the form of unofficial payments to obtain differentiated treatment. According to the Commission, other high risk areas include economic sectors such as construction and extractive industries. The sectors in local public administration most prone to corruption risks include urban development planning and permits, and waste management and re-zoning decisions. The EU experience shows that the fight against corruption cannot be reduced to a standard «one-size-fits-all» set of measures. Nevertheless, for a response to be successful, there have to be tools in place to prevent, detect, repress and sanction corruption.