A new independent study by Czech, Polish and Slovakian watchdogs identifies major gaps both in the national and EU legal framework that fundamentally increase the risk of political corruption and allow misuse of EU funds. The comparative analysis complements the long-delayed first EU Anti-corruption report released today.
It concludes, among else, that European Commission and the three studied member states have not been effective in regulating anonymous and offshore recipients of funds and allowed management and oversight of the programs riddled with political conflicts of interest in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.
The “shadow report” on political corruption and misuse of public funds results from a year-long research by local teams of lawyers, economists and political analysts, and is independent of the Commission's findings as well as the governments' views. Analyzing major risks of political corruption in the management of public funds, the study sheds light on why millions of euros continue to be misused and why implementation of EU funds regularly ends up in criminal prosecution in all three studied countries. Up to a third of the EU resources allocated to the countries is not reimbursed by the EU programs and—as the authors of the study believe—this is largely due to the effects of political corruption and lack of rules and transparency. Because of six months delay in publishing its first Anti-corruption report, European Commission did not translate these and other similar findings into the 2014–2020 funding conditions.
“It is not surprising that EU funds are linked with chronic political corruption in the three studied states since not even the basic rules against conflicts of interest are in effect. EU hasn't been successful in convincing the governments to do so,” comments Martin Fadrný, coordinator of the research team.
Read full report – Public Money and Corruption Risks.
Martin Fadrný: martin.fadrny@frankbold.org, +420 775 154 079
Frank Bold – a legal watchdog with offices in Prague, Brussels and Krakow.
Naši politici – gather and publish information about activities of Czech public service and its elected representatives with the emphasis on potential conflict of interest.
Center of Applied Economics – a semi-academic NGO engaged in data-driven research on public sector.
KohoVolit.eu – a non-governmental organization and an eponymous website aimed at promoting democracy by encouraging political awareness of citizens and public control of elected representatives.
Centrum Cyfrowe Projekt – Polska works towards social change and enhancing citizens’ participation through the use of digital technologies and open, cooperative models based on sharing knowledge and other resources.
Slovak Governance Institute – an independent civic association bringing and supporting solutions to increase quality of the process of public funds allocation.
The project was supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundations.
With the financial support of the Prevention of and Fight against Crime Programme
European Commission - Directorate-General Home Affairs
The project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Environmental Law Service is co-organising a half-day conference on lobbying transparency, ethics regulation and citizens participation, taking place in Brussels on 16 November.
In a landmark intervention, in 2010, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) requested a transboundary environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the Prunéřov II brown coal-fired power plant in the Czech Republic. FSM asserted its right to be heard as a sovereign state because the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions may contribute to climate change impacts. We provided FSM with legal support throughout the legal proceedings in the Czech Republic.
