(22 November 2016) – Reacting to the publication of the Europe edition of the 2016 Global Corruption Barometer, Carl Dolan, the director of Transparency International EU Office, said that the most striking things about the Trump and Farage narratives was the railing against corrupt elites.
For its new report ‘People and Corruption: Europe and Central Asia’, Transparency International spoke to nearly 60,000 citizens in 42 countries in Europe and Central Asia about their daily life experiences with corruption.
One in three citizens in in the region think corruption is one of the biggest problems facing their country. This figure rises to two in three in Moldova, Spain and Kosovo, showing that urgent actions against the abuse of power and secret deals are needed.
Creeping populism is seducing thousands of citizens who seem to swallow the anti-elite narrative attacking corrupt officials, but the European Union – which has a positive track record in fighting clientelist schemes – must preach for more transparency to unsettle nationalists’ claims, says the boss of Transparency International. (EurActiv)