On 13 July 2022, the European Commission published two Eurobarometer surveys showing the public’s opinion on corruption in the EU.
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Citizens' perceptions of corruption
The first survey captured European citizens’ perception of and experiences on corruption. It covered the following areas:
• General perceptions of corruption including acceptability, its extent and the perceived changes in incidence in recent years;
• Attitudes to corruption in public institutions and business, and the effectiveness of government, the judicial system and institutions in tackling corruption;
• Personal experience of bribery, and the incidence of corruption in contact with institutions;
• Bribery and corruption in the healthcare sector;
• Reporting of corruption.
The main results of the survey are:
• 68% of EU citizens believe that corruption is widespread in their country;
• 58% of respondents do not think government efforts to combat corruption are effective;
• Up to 6% of Europeans say they experienced or witnessed a case of corruption in the last 12 months, but only 15% of them reported the issue;
• 53% of Europeans do not know where to report corruption;
• Regarding the reasons why corruption is not reported, nearly the half of Europeans believe that it is difficult to prove anything, 30% think that the responsible persons will not be punished, and 28% submitted that there is no protection for those who report corruption.
Businesses' attitudes towards corruption
The second survey focused on businesses’ attitudes towards corruption in the EU. The survey covers a range of areas, including perception of:
• Problems encountered when doing business;
• Businesses’ perception of the level of corruption in their town;
• The prevalence of practices leading to corruption;
• Corrupt practices in public tender and public procurement procedures;
• How corruption is investigated, prosecuted and sanctioned.
The main results of this survey are:
• 34% of companies in the EU believe that corruption is a serious problem when doing business in their country – however, this attitude varies considerably across Member States;
• 63% of the companies think the problem of corruption is widespread in their country. The highest proportions reporting that corruption is widespread in their country are seen in Greece (90%), Cyprus and Italy (both 92%), and Croatia (93%);
• Favouring friends and/or family members in business or in public institutions is considered the most widespread corruptive practice in the EU countries;
• 79% of respondents agree that too close links between business and politics in their country lead to corruption and 38% believe that having political connections is the only way to succeed in business;
• 52% of the companies think it is likely that individuals and businesses engaging in corrupt practices in their country would face charges and go to court.
• About half of companies (49%) also believe that individuals and businesses engaged in corrupt practices are likely to be caught by or reported to the police or prosecutors.
• 38% of the respondents think that individuals and businesses engaging in corrupt practices will be heavily fined or imprisoned by a court.
The last surveys on the public’s perception of corruption in the EU were conducted in 2019. ■