The Annual Transparency International Report

Romania ranks 25th out of the 28 EU countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index

Roxana Vasile, 22.02.2018, 13:21

More than two thirds of the worlds countries have scored below 50 in the 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International, which uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. Presented in Berlin on Wednesday, the index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people. It is for the first time that on top of the ranking there are scores below 90, which, according to the organisation, means that most governments are too slow in taking action against the scourge.

This year, New Zealand ranks highest with 89 points, followed by Denmark, Finland, Norway and Switzerland. The best performing region is Western Europe, while the worst performing regions are Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. With a score of 48, Romania is above the world average and, just like in the previous year, it ranks 25th out of 28 in the European Union, on a par with Greece and ahead of Hungary and Bulgaria.

According to Transparency International, the fact that the corruption perceptions index has remained unchanged at global level is a slight improvement. For this reason, the organisation believes that, in the following years, besides coercive measures, Romania needs to implement systematic prevention measures, to raise the level of accountability among decision-makers, and ensure more involvement on the local communities part. For this reason, Transparency International has mentioned the need for transparent and efficient mechanisms, aimed at eliminating vulnerabilities to corruption, effective means of spending public money and more integrity in the public institutions.

Since the private sector plays a key-role in shaping the way in which society responds to the phenomenon of corruption, a fair and transparent business environment can decisively contribute to Romanias development. According to Transparency International, the private sector too needs improved mechanisms of compliance and integrity, with a view to ensuring economic competitiveness. The organisation also comes with concrete proposals for the central government, local officials and the business environment, such as higher standards of good local governance through the implementation of an Integrity System at the level of local public administration, along with the development and strengthening of an ethic and compliance management system at organization level. (translated by Daniel Bilt)