WRITTEN QUESTION E-3360/01

by Michael Cashman (PSE) to the Commission

(5 December 2001)

Subject: Fighting corruption

Can the Commission detail what is being done at European level to fight corruption? Does the Commission have a comprehensive strategy to fight corruption? If not, can it outline any plans that it has to initiate a strategy?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(13 February 2002)

1. In accordance with Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union and further to recommendation No 6 of the Action Plan of 28 April 1997 to combat organised crime and recommendation No 7 of the Millennium Strategy of 27 March 2000 on the prevention and control of organised crime, and as reflected in the Commission's Scoreboard on the creation of an Area of Freedom,

Security and Justice, it is the Union's objective to prevent and to combat corruption through closer police, customs and judicial cooperation and the approximation of criminal law provisions of national legislation and through the development of a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary and crosspillar Union policy towards corruption taking into account work being carried out in other international governmental (e.g. United Nations (UN), Organisation for economic cooperation and development (OECD), Council of Europe) and relevant non-governmental organisations.

2. The Commission wishes to assure the Honourable Member of its commitment to contribute to this objective and to use its influence at all international fora where the Commission is represented to condemn, to combat and to prevent all forms of corruption.

3. More specifically, the Commission is determined to root out the phenomenon of corruption from four main angles:

(a) A policy of zero-tolerance towards cases of in-house (i.e. within the European institutions) passive corruption and the rigorous enquiry through the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) of cases of external persons aiming at obtaining unlawfully Community funds by means of active corruption, allowing for complete transparency and no legal vacuums. In its communication of 28 June 2000 on an overall strategic approach for the protection of the Communities' financial interests and the fight against fraud(1), which was endorsed by the Council and the Parliament, the Commission has outlined in detail an interinstitutional approach to prevent and combat corruption, notably based on a culture of cooperation at all levels and independent administrative investigations carried out by OLAF.

(b) Approximation of criminal law legislation among its Member States by agreeing on common definitions, incriminations and sanctions and ensuring appropriate law enforcement in cases of national or cross-border corruption through 4 criminal law instruments (references and ratification detail is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat). As regards the criminal-law protection of the Community's financial interests, the Commission has adopted on 23 May 2001 a proposal for a directive of the Parliament and the Council, which provides for a common definition of active and passive corruption in this field. The Parliament has already approved this proposal in first reading on 29 November 2001. Furthermore, the Commission examines the possibility of submitting a proposal to the Parliament and the Council to reformat the Joint Action on private sector corruption of 22 December 1998 into a Framework Decision.

(c) The development of a comprehensive anti-corruption policy based not only on criminal law provisions, but advocating a global strategy across a range of areas in the field of crime prevention (measures with regard to public sector administration and the judiciary, financial management, rules on party funding, rules on participation in public procurement procedures, public-private relationships, strengthening the role of national anti-corruption services, developing innovative means of evidence gathering, tax deductibility of bribes, accounting and auditing standards, blacklisting/exclusion of economic operators, a European charter for certain vulnerable professions and external aid and assistance). Most of these issues were addressed in a Commission Communication to the Council and the Parliament in 1997, which will be up-dated in the first half of 2002.

(d) First steps towards integrating the Union's anti-corruption strategy into its external relations policy have been taken through promoting good governance standards including the fight against corruption in the framework of EC development activities as commonly defined by the Council and the Commission. The Cotonou Agreement signed with the ACP countries contains a specific procedure to deal with serious corruption cases. Its implementation is modeled on the Manual of instructions for procurement in the Commission's external aid projects adopted through Commission decision on 10 November 1999, whose Article 8 deals specifically with corruption cases.

5. In 2000, the UN General Assembly decided to begin the elaboration of an international legal instrument against corruption. An intergovernmental open-ended expert

group has prepared draft terms of reference for the negotiations by an ad hoc committee beginning its work in January 2002. On 29 November 2001, the EU has adopted a common position on the basis of Article 34 §2 a) of the Treaty on the European Union. Commission services have substantially contributed to the common position and are currently preparing a recommendation to the Council with the view of authorising the Commission to take part in those parts of the negotiations relating to Community competencies.

6. Upon initiative of the Commission, in May 2001 the Union Forum on the prevention of organised crime was launched. Corruption is one of the topics having been identified as a priority by the Forum's participants when it comes to build strategic partnerships between key players in public and private sector determined to promote the idea of crime prevention.

7. Lastly, the Commission, has co-funded under its Falcone-programme a project in 2000/2001 of the University of Ghent on The organisation of the fight against corruption in the Member States and candidate countries of the EU resulting in the first comparative overview of the national policies against corruption within the Union and its future members.

(1) COM(2000) 358 final.