The level of corruption perception in Spain has worsened for the second year in a row as the country scored 60 out of 100 points in 2022, falling by one point compared to 2021, a report by NGO Transparency International revealed.
Spain ranked 35th out of 180 countries in 2022, with 60 out of 100 points along with Botswana, Cape Verde and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and remains in 14th place among the 27 EU member states, two points below Portugal and Lithuania (62), EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported.
The NGO points out that a difference of one point from one year to the next is not “statistically significant,” but warns that a fall for the second year in a row is a “clear sign of risk and danger of further decline.”
Transparency International considers that this shows that in Spain “there is still a latent” level of factors that affect the functioning of democratic institutions and therefore increase the “risk of corruption.”
The report also drew attention to the fact that, despite the fact that Spain has a Code of Conduct in its national Parliament, more than half of the parliamentarians do not publish their institutional agendas and those that are published “contain absolutely unequal information”.
The NGO also highlights the lack of transparency in the meetings they hold, all aspects that, as a whole, have an impact “on Spain’s capacity to continue making progress in anti-corruption matters.”
The President of Transparency International Spain, Silvina Bacigalupo, explained the one-point drop in the corruption ranking to the “delays” in moving forward with necessary legal reforms, which have taken their toll on the Iberian country.
Bacigalupo called on parliament to bring forward laws aimed at preventing corruption and strengthening transparency and accountability.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
