Portugal: Non-compliance with GRECO’s anti-corruption recommendations
At the end of 2019, Portugal was on a list of 15 countries with a low level of compliance with anti-corruption recommendations addressed to parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors.
Portugal is on a list of 15 countries with low levels of compliance with anti-corruption recommendations for members of parliament, judges and prosecutors at the end of 2019, according to a report, a Council of Europe body against corruption, on Wednesday.
According to the report released in Strasbourg, France, on December 31, 2019, Portugal had only fully implemented one of the 15 recommendations issued by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO). Of the remaining 14 recommendations, eight were partially implemented and six recommendations were not implemented.
In addition to Portugal, the other countries named as being at odds with GRECO due to the low level of compliance with the anti-corruption recommendations were Armenia, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Northern Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Turkey.
On the other hand, on December 31, 2019, Bosnia Herzegovina, the Czech Republic and Serbia were the only three countries not to have fully implemented any of GRECO’s recommendations addressed to members of parliament, judges, and prosecutors.
Portugal was one of 14 countries that had not yet fully implemented any of GRECO’s recommendations regarding deputies. The other countries in the same situation were Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Malta, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey.
The countries not on the list but still with a high percentage of anti-corruption recommendations not fully implemented concerning Members were Belgium, Armenia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Lithuania, and Luxembourg.
As of December 31, 2019 – the date of GRECO’s report, Portugal was still among the 11 countries that had not yet fully complied with GRECO’s recommendations and measures regarding judges.
The other 10 countries in the same situation were Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Serbia, and Switzerland.
GRECO, the Council of Europe body that monitors corruption, has existed since 1999 and was created by the Council of Europe member states to take decisive and lasting measures to combat corruption, ensuring adherence to and effective implementation of comprehensive anti-corruption standards.
The mission of its members, which extends beyond the geographical scope of the Council of Europe, is to promote targeted actions to combat corruption, to raise awareness of the risks of corruption, and to evaluate and implement reforms to correct deficiencies in policies, legislation, and the various national institutions.
GRECO has developed a corruption monitoring model to provide each member state with a detailed analysis and set of recommendations adapted to the specific architecture of each country.
The subsequent so-called compliance procedures serve to verify the level of compliance and actively seek alignment with what is recommended by GRECO to prevent corruption, a phenomenon that weakens and impoverishes states.
