Filenews 25 November 2024
In one of the seven positions of the Bureau of the Council of Europe Group of Member States against Corruption (GRECO), the officer of the Legal Service, Senior Lawyer of the Republic Ms Alexia Kalispera, who represents the Republic as head of the Cypriot delegation to the said Committee, was elected.
Ms. Kalispera received the positive vote of 30 of the 46 GRECO member states that voted by secret ballot for the appointment of a new Board of Directors for the Sixth Evaluation Round of GRECO, thus securing a member position in the Bureau, during the election process held during the 98th GRECO Plenary Session in Strasbourg, between 18 and 22 November 2024.
This election is characterized as a great success of our country at international level, as this is the first time that Cyprus achieves its election to this important body of the Council of Europe, which is mandated to help its members fight corruption by checking their compliance with Council of Europe anti-corruption standards through a dynamic evaluation process. Ms. Kalispera's candidacy also received support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Today, 48 member states participate in GRECO (Russia and Latvia withdrew) and collectively, the seven seats on the new GRECO Board of Directors were occupied by:
- Mr David Meyer, President (United Kingdom)
- Mr Antonio Delicado, Vice-President (Portugal)
- Ms Alexia Kalispera, Member (Cyprus)
- Ms Lise Chipault, Member (France)
- Ms Panagiota Vatikalou, Member (Greece)
- Mr Sorin Tănase, Member (Romania)
- Mr Olivier Gonin, Member (Switzerland)
The term of office of the new Board of Directors begins on January 1, 2025, with effect until the completion of the Sixth Evaluation Round of GRECO.
Ms. Alexia Kalispera, Senior Lawyer of the Republic, has been the head of the Cypriot delegation to GRECO since 2015, demonstrating active participation in the work of GRECO. She has also been selected as an Evaluator in the Fifth Evaluation Round of GRECO (Prevention of Corruption in Central Governments and Law Enforcement Bodies) for Latvia, Ireland and Liechtenstein, as an Evaluator for the Ad Hoc Report of Greece in the Fourth Evaluation Round of GRECO (Prevention of Corruption in Members of Parliament, the Judiciary and Public Prosecutors), as Rapporteur for the United States, United Kingdom, Albania, Greece and Croatia in the context of compliance with the Fourth Evaluation Round of GRECO, as well as Rapporteur for Croatia in the context of the Fifth Evaluation Round of GRECO.
