Filenews 31 January 2024
In the middle category of corruption, but with a tendency... Cyprus ranks among 180 states, according to the latest Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
The most worrying thing for the Cypriot state and society is that from 2012 when the table was issued until 2023 when the last one was issued, the corruption index in Cyprus is now at its lowest point, highlighting that corruption every year is getting worse rather than decreasing, with knee-jerk and non-substantial fluctuations in 2017-18.
Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), based on the Transparency International report, looked at 180 countries and territories based on perceived levels of public sector corruption, on a scale of zero (very corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
For Cyprus, the score given is 53 points, compared to 52 in 2022, returning to the levels it was in 2021 (53). The highest score for the period 2012-2023 was held by Cyprus in 2012, with 66 points. Then the index followed a noticeable downward trend from 2013 to 2016 (when we fell to 55 points), then there was a slight improvement in 2017 and 2018 (we just went up to 59 points) and from 2019 we went downhill again in the corruption index, falling again to 52 points in 2022 and to 53 in 2023.
According to the report, experts and businessmen surveyed found that the country with the least corruption in the world is Denmark, followed by Finland and New Zealand in second and third place respectively.
Despite their good position on the overall list, several high-level democracies, including Sweden (82), the Netherlands (79), Iceland (72) and the United Kingdom (71), recorded their lowest score in the annual Corruption Perceptions Index since it was first released in 2012 in 2023.
"The drop in regional Index scores in Western Europe and the EU shows that European governments need to take fighting corruption and upholding the rule of law more seriously," said Flora Cresswell, Transparency International's regional coordinator for Western Europe.
"The reversals of checks and balances leave the door open to corruption," he said. "Countries need to raise their standards and better enforce their own rules to step up anti-corruption efforts, shielding the justice system from interference and putting a backstop on powerful interest groups in politics."
Anti-corruption efforts have either stalled or declined in more than three-quarters of countries in the region, according to Transparency International. The lowest-ranked countries (the worst levels of corruption, that is) were Hungary (42), Romania (46) and Bulgaria (45). Of the 31 countries in this region, only six countries have significantly improved their scores since 2012: Czechia (57), Estonia (76), Greece (49), Latvia (60), Italy (56) and Ireland (77).
Worst score for Greece
Poland (54 points) has fallen seven points over the past decade due to "attempts by the previous ruling Law and Order (PiS) party to monopolize power at the expense of the public interest," the report said.
It also appears that Greece (49) scored very low on the 2023 list, due to its weak judicial independence. Transparency International also refers to the EU's recently proposed anti-corruption directive, which, if adopted, would require member states to "make demand-side foreign bribery a crime".
Also, Transparency International's analysis found that access to information on the beneficial owners (beneficiaries) of companies was significantly limited for civil society and journalists across the EU.
