Portugal has made limited progress in preventing corruption among MPs, judges and prosecutors, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body GRECO wrote in a report released Monday.
In its report published on Monday, GRECO said that Portugal had satisfactorily implemented three of 15 recommendations the Council of Europe body had previously made to the country, while the remaining 12 had only been “partially implemented”.
Portugal’s level of compliance with the recommendations remains “globally unsatisfactory”, GRECO said in its report, calling on the country’s authorities to submit reports on the progress made in implementing the outstanding recommendations by the end of the year.
As far as members of parliament are concerned, GRECO considers that the effectiveness of the revised Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic (AR), which provide for a more predictable legislative process and reduce unexpected and last-minute items on the agenda, cannot be fully assessed.
On the other hand, it noted that the amendment to Article 134 of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure provides for online public consultation for all categories of draft legislation to guarantee equal access for all interested parties, including civil society, to the various stages of the legislative process.
“The current rules and regulations for members of parliament still do not adequately address possible interactions between MPs and third parties, nor do they establish penalties for improper actions,” GRECO said, adding that there had not yet been an impact assessment of the effectiveness of the conflict of interest prevention system for MPs.
The organisation also pointed out that the Transparency Body, responsible for assessing MPs’ declarations of income and interests, is not yet fully operational and that the rules defined do not yet provide adequate sanctions for minor violations by MPs.
As for judges, the report states that the database that allows online access to the final decisions of the courts of first instance is not yet operational.
It also says there have been improvements in strengthening the composition of the magistrates’ councils to safeguard judicial independence and that the method for selecting Supreme Court judges “remains unchanged”.
“The Superior Council of the Judiciary has prepared a first draft code of conduct for judges which, together with a draft code for judges of the administrative and tax courts, is awaiting adoption,” it added.
For all these reasons, GRECO says that Portugal “must substantially step up its response” to the pending recommendations, and since the vast majority of them (12 out of 15) remain partially implemented, GRECO had “no choice” but to conclude that the current level of compliance with the recommendations remains “globally unsatisfactory”.
(Susana Oliveira | Lusa.pt)
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