Greece seen as EU champ of corruption

Minister promises new law

Greece has the worst ranking among European countries regarding the perception of how corrupt the country is, according to the latest Transparency International survey.

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2002 ranked 102 countries and found that 70 percent scored less than 5 out of a clean score of 10. Finland topped the list with 9.7, and at the bottom was Bangladesh with 1.2. Greece was last among EU members, with a score of 4.2, in 44th place on the catalog. It had the same score last year and was in 42nd place. Greece also had the dubious honor again this year of being the only EU country to score less than 5. The next worst was Italy, in 31st place with 5.2 points, behind 26th-placed Portugal with 6.3 points.

PM Costas Simitis met with Interior Minister Costas Skandalidis yesterday to discuss the problem of corruption. Skandalidis said later that Parliament would soon be debating legislation aimed at stamping out corruption and introducing a general directorate to oversee the public administration. “We are moving forward in fighting corruption,” he said.

Corruption is perceived to be rampant in Indonesia, Kenya, Angola, Madagascar, Paraguay, Nigeria and Bangladesh, countries with a score of less than 2. Countries with a score of higher than 9, with very low levels of perceived corruption, are predominantly rich countries, namely Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Iceland, Singapore and Sweden.

The CPI is a poll of polls, reflecting the perceptions of business people and country analysts, both resident and non-resident.

“One must realize that corruption remains appalling,” said Peter Eigen, chairman of Transparency International, speaking on the launch of the Corruption Perceptions Index 2002 in Berlin. “It is important to emphasize that the CPI, even with 102 countries, is only a snapshot and covers barely half of the more than 200 sovereign nations in the world,” he said. “There is not sufficient data on other countries, many of which are likely to be very corrupt.”

Scandals and bankruptcies, such as Enron and WorldCom, in the United States (ranked 16th with a score of 7.7), underscore the need for reforms to bolster business ethics, Eigen said.