Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia among the most corrupt countries in Europe

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are among the eight most corrupt countries in Europe and Central Asia in the opinion of their citizens, reveals research by Transparency International.Transparency International presented the results of the Global Corruption Barometer for 2016 - research which examines citizens' perception of corruption in 42 countries of Europe and Central Asia.Of the countries in the region, is best assessed Slovenia.According to the survey, 27 percent of BiH citizens and 22 percent of Serbian citizens were in a situation, in the past year, give a bribe to a public official.

"The worst results in Europe and Central Asia, according to the answers given by the citizens of these countries, recorded by Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine. These countries have received negative ratings on all key issues of corruption in the survey, which indicates a real and serious corruption challenges in these countries that urgently need to be addressed. These countries are characterized by a large number of citizens who are members of parliament are seen as corrupt, high rates of bribery and unfavorable social environment for personal involvement in the fight against corruption, "the report said Transparency.

"Results from other countries are a mixture of positive, central and negative evaluations - partly reflecting the different nature of corruption challenges that exist in this diverse field. In some of these countries, such as Azerbaijan, the rate of bribery is very high, but only about one-third of people believe that corruption is one of the biggest problems that the government should focus. Others, however, countries such as Spain, have very low rates of bribery, or two-thirds of citizens think that corruption is one of the biggest problems facing this country, "the report said.

social acceptability

Two-thirds of the people of Kosovo, Spain and Moldova corruption assessed as a major problem (between 65 and 67 percent).More than half of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatian believes that it is not socially acceptable, to report corruption."The authorities are not doing enough to combat corruption, as individuals at the top who benefit from it. The fact that they are on top of the pyramid of power, corrupt elites and oligarchs is hard to overthrow. But, we have witnessed that this can be done when people jointly come forward and demand more accountability from their leaders, and when there is an independent judiciary that will make them match, "said the promotion of research Jose Ugaz, Chairman of the International Board of Directors of TI.

Transparency International emphasizes the importance of strengthening the independence of the judiciary and elimination of executive influence on the judiciary, and the adoption of a comprehensive and applicable legal framework for the protection of whistleblowers.

"Unfortunately, there are a number of obstacles to greater personal involvement of citizens in the fight against corruption. Many people are afraid of negative consequences if they report corruption, as indeed is the case for a significant percentage of people who report cases of bribery claim to have in the recent past because suffer the consequences. High rates of bribery, the social stigma against reporting, and the lack of political and civil rights contribute to apathy and unwillingness of citizens to engage in activities to combat corruption. The new rules on lobbying, protection of whistleblowers and measures to combat bribery in the public sector are extremely important, but the real change will occur only when all levels of government, private sector and civil society demonstrate a clear commitment to tackling corruption, "the Transparency.

The study included five parameters, and how big is the problem of corruption, the fight against corruption, the corruption of members of parliament, the number of people who paid bribes, and the social acceptability of reporting corruption.The study included 60,000 people from 42 countries of Europe and Central Asia.

• 16 Nov, 2016
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