European Union institutions have some work to do in tightening their houses against corruption, according to the first-ever such assessment conducted by the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.
The EU Integrity System Report, released last week, found that the EU institutions are vulnerable to corruption because of “loopholes and poor enforcement” in matters of ethics, transparency, and financial control. The research was conducted by TI’s International EU Office over a nine-month period, and covered 10 institutions: the European Parliament, European Commission, European Council, Council of the EU, the Court of Justice of the EU, European Court of Auditors, European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Europol, Eurojust, and the European Ombudsman. The report was sparked by the European Commission’s corruption assessment of the 28 Member States comprising the EU. TI said that report begged the question of how the EU itself was doing on the issue.
