Corruption

The United States ranks 24th out of 188 on the Transparency Index survey of corruption. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2012/06/europes-corruption-problem/#ixzz1x9yMJh6w With its fragmenting monetary union, tottering banks and politically discontented citizens, the last thing the European Union needs to hear is that it has an embarrassing public and private sector corruption problem on its hands. Yet this is the conclusion of a new report from Transparency International, the global anti-corruption watchdog. “Political parties, public administrations and the private sector are assessed as the weakest forces in the promotion of integrity across Europe,” says the report. Political party funding is inadequately regulated, lobbying remains veiled in secrecy, parliaments don’t live up to their own ethical standards, public procurement practices breed corruption and there isn’t enough legal protection for whistleblowers. Whew. No wonder the rest of the world isn’t inclined to take lessons from the Europeans any more. Except, of course, that corruption can and does flourish everywhere. “We have the best government that money can buy,” Mark Twain, the 19th-century American humorist, once remarked of his own country. http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2012/06/europes-corruption-problem/#axzz1wjq7ziae