Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Corruption is one of the greatest contemporary threats to the proper functioning of both national and Union institutions. Corruption erodes the foundations of democracy, undermines trust in public institutions, and deprives our citizens of the opportunities and services they deserve. Significant financial resources flow from public budgets into the pockets of perpetrators of corruption every year. This robs us of valuable resources that could otherwise be invested in education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Corruption not only damages our economies but also corrodes the very fabric of our societies.

If we want a corruption-free Europe, we must acknowledge that the battle is multifaceted. It requires us to tackle corruption at all levels, from petty bribery to grand corruption schemes. It necessitates reforms in our legal frameworks, robust enforcement mechanisms, and the cultivation of a culture of ethics and accountability. It also involves empowering whistle-blowers who play a vital role in exposing corruption, often at great personal risk. And we can only make significant progress in the fight against corruption through the collective efforts of Member States, institutions, civil society, and the private sector.

Corruption-related offences are notoriously difficult to investigate and uncover as they are often committed by highly sophisticated groups of individuals skilled at utilising loopholes in the system. It is therefore needed to update the EU secondary legislation, which aims at setting minimum standards of combating corruption by means of primarily, but not exclusively criminal law.

The proposal at hand offers a robust update of definitions of criminal offences already defined in EU law, including bribery in both public and private sector, and adds new criminal offences, which are needed to make the fight against corruption more effective. It is also most welcome that the proposal brings EU legislation into line with the UN Convention against corruption. The draft report is aligned with the main objective of the proposal of achieving a comprehensive and unified framework for addressing corruption, thus ensuring that our efforts to combat corruption are consistent and effective across the European Union. The draft report builds on the proposal to tighten up the definitions of criminal offences and to add further two offences, namely concealment of property gained by means of corruption and misconduct in public office. Corruption rings often engage in or rely on activities falling within those two newly defined offences, and it is equally important to prosecute and punish those offences.

The draft report further introduces additional rules to protect victims of corruption and to ensure that perpetrators cannot escape the consequences of their criminal activities by hiding behind legal entities or other legal schemes. Certain modifications to the Commission’s text are also proposed to strike the proper balance between the need to effectively investigate and prosecute corruption offences on one hand and to respect fundamental rights of all persons involved on the other.

The Commission has correctly recognised that the fight against corruption cannot be limited solely to means of criminal law and proposed measures on prevention of corruption. Prevention is often the most cost-effective way to combat corruption and enhancing this dimension should be at the heart of the Union’s approach. The draft report therefore strengthens those provisions in order to make the Member States’ obligations in this area clear and unambiguous. It is important to monitor phenomena, which are often corruption related, such as revolving doors between the public and private sector, potential conflicts of interest and unexplained assets of public officials. Corruption can be best prevented when relevant information is available to both the public and the relevant authorities in an easily accessible manner, which allows for efficient analysis. Proper regulation of lobbying activities, as well as having clear and transparent rules for the financing of political parties and electoral campaigns financing is also essential.

The proposal already recognizes the important role that civil society plays as watchdog (alerting on threats to rule of law, holding public authorities accountable and ensuring respect for fundamental rights) and requires Member States to promote their role in anti-corruption activities. The draft report strengthens the role of civil society in the prevention of and the fight against corruption, including by recognizing any organisation that aims to counter this phenomenon the right to a review of a prosecutorial decisions to open or not an investigation and by enabling civil society to act in defence of the rights of the victims of corruption.

Finally, the Commission’s proposal correctly reacts to the close link between legislation on corruption criminal offences and the PIF Directive (EU) 2017/1371. Since the perpetrators of corruption often also engage in criminal fraud against the Union’s financial interests, it is important to keep the two pieces of legislation aligned not only in terms of definitions, but also in terms of procedural instruments employed by them. The draft report proposes additional provisions to ensure the smooth implementation of both pieces of legislation, including addressing jurisdiction of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.