Corrupt activities cost EU states €120bn

BRIBERY and corruption are costing taxpayers €120 billion a year and pushing up the price of public works by as much as 25%, according to the European Commission.

They announced an EU-wide drive against such crime and plan to put in place a Criminal Assets Bureau, similar to Ireland’s very successful model.

The commission will begin by drawing up an anti- corruption report detailing problems in each of the EU’s 27-member states.

The commissioner responsible, Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom, said four out of five EU citizens regard corruption as a major problem in their state and it costs 1% of GDP a year — as much as the total EU budget.

The EU anti-corruption report aims to identify not just crime but where the legislation needs to be tightened to deal with it.

Part of the problem is the lack of political will to fight this crime.

“The main challenge is lack of political willingness — the rules are there but without political agreement it will never happen,” she said.

Ministers from many member states, however, are pushing for the commission to take action.

Commissioner Malmstrom hopes with a list of each country’s shortcomings being published every second year, beginning in 2013, the politicians will be forced to take action.

She plans to follow up this by proposing modernised rules on confiscation of criminal assets later this year.

“We are looking at what Ireland and other countries are doing in this area,freezing of assets and confiscation should be part of the package to tackle this illegal economy,” she said.

The commission is also planning to modernise EU rules on public procurement, of goods and services, and accounting standards, with statutory audits of EU companies.

The financial interests of the EU itself and how it spends its money will also come under greater scrutiny with a new strategy to combat fraud at this level too.