Southeast European (SEE) countries need a regional anti-graft policy as they still face high-level corruption despite prominent efforts to fight it and reform their judiciaries
, non-governmental organisation Transparency International (TI) said in a new study.
At regional level, the analysis shows that the criminal judicial systems are generally seen as being at least somewhat independent, with only 11% of the legal professionals assessing them as independent to a low extent or not at all independent.
One of the most visible costs of corruption in the region is economic, since the region depends on foreign capital and expertise for sustainable growth. Graft discourages investment while corrupt administrations hinder the management of many EU aid programs aimed at smoothing their transition.
Romania, Slovenia and Bulgaria are currently the only EU member states in SEE. Most of the other countries in the region are at various stages of their EU accession process.
The legal professionals polled in the study frequently identified legislative instability and, at times, the lack of a participatory process during the legislative process, as a persistent cause within corruption-enabling features.
The consequences from a corrupt judiciary can vary from a lack of confidence in the state, graft across all sectors of government, low investment rate and scarce business development and growth, as well as important consequences for the respective country's citizens ranging from unjust treatment to general distrust in public institutions, TI said.
It recommends a regional policy on cooperation on the investigation, prosecution and monitoring of high-level anti-corruption cases and coordination of the professionals dealing with such cases which should have a particular view to the outlining, developing and setting up a regional mechanism for the handling of corruption-related crimes.
The adoption and implementation of international anti-corruption standards should be done with a view to the national judicial system of each of the countries in the SEE region, so as to ensure coherence between the existing national framework and international conventions.
The TI study covers Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYROM, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.
Source: Seenews 03-06-2010
At regional level, the analysis shows that the criminal judicial systems are generally seen as being at least somewhat independent, with only 11% of the legal professionals assessing them as independent to a low extent or not at all independent.
One of the most visible costs of corruption in the region is economic, since the region depends on foreign capital and expertise for sustainable growth. Graft discourages investment while corrupt administrations hinder the management of many EU aid programs aimed at smoothing their transition.
Romania, Slovenia and Bulgaria are currently the only EU member states in SEE. Most of the other countries in the region are at various stages of their EU accession process.
The legal professionals polled in the study frequently identified legislative instability and, at times, the lack of a participatory process during the legislative process, as a persistent cause within corruption-enabling features.
The consequences from a corrupt judiciary can vary from a lack of confidence in the state, graft across all sectors of government, low investment rate and scarce business development and growth, as well as important consequences for the respective country's citizens ranging from unjust treatment to general distrust in public institutions, TI said.
It recommends a regional policy on cooperation on the investigation, prosecution and monitoring of high-level anti-corruption cases and coordination of the professionals dealing with such cases which should have a particular view to the outlining, developing and setting up a regional mechanism for the handling of corruption-related crimes.
The adoption and implementation of international anti-corruption standards should be done with a view to the national judicial system of each of the countries in the SEE region, so as to ensure coherence between the existing national framework and international conventions.
The TI study covers Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYROM, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.
Source: Seenews 03-06-2010
