A report in the euobserver states that corruption across the EU continues to be a significant issue that is not being properly addressed by European governments:
BRUSSELS – Corruption across the EU bloc is costing taxpayers billions, as member states fail to tackle the problem head on, according to the European Commission.
The Brussels executive on Monday (3 February) published its first ever bi-annual anti-corruption report on each of the 28 EU countries, citing public procurement and obscure political party financing as among the most pervasive problems. “We are not doing enough and this is true in all member states,” EU commissioner for home affairs Cecilia Malmstrom told reporters.
Public procurement contracts, equivalent to one-fifth of the total EU economy, are said to be the worst affected with up to a quarter of their value lost to corrupt practices. Around 32 percent of the companies who tendered public contracts say they lost the winning bid because of corruption, with construction and engineering firms the worst affected.
N. Nielsen, “EU has ‘no corruption-free zone'” euobserver, February 3, 2014.
