The European Union needs to enhance trust in its institutions by rooting out corruption and fraud, and increasing transparency. Three important reports indicate how

Three interesting reports on corruption in the European Union were published in the first quarter of this year. They outlined three different perspectives.

First, on February 3, the European Commission presented its first report on the fight against corruption in the EU. It covered not only the general trends within the Union, but also included specific chapters for each of the member states.

Then, two months later, the Court of Auditors published a report entitled ‘The European Court of Auditors’ view on the Commission's report on anti-corruption measures’.

This stated that, although the conclusions of the Commission might seem alarming, they are basically obtained from the perceptions of citizens and businesses that make up each member state (based on Eurobarometer surveys). They have not been compared or contrasted with data that the European anti-fraud office(OLAF) has collected.

The Court of Auditors nevertheless recognised that the Commission’s first published report is promising and that the dialogue generated by it will be useful and beneficial in raising awareness about the fight against fraud.

Finally, the issue of transparency is looked at by the Transparency International-EU Office which published a daring (and extensive) report on 'European Union System Integrity’. This delves into a question asked by many (and answered by few): namely, can we be sure that the institutions of the European Union are free of the corruption risks present at national level?

The main findings are clustered into six groups within which the strengths and weaknesses that characterize each EU institution are looked at, enabling generalized conclusions to be drawn about the integrity of the entire European Union. These include:

- Transparency of decision-making; currently voluntary registration is applied only to the Commission and the Parliament but not to the Council or the permanent representatives of the member states

- Ethics and conflicts of interest; there is good control over the conduct of the officers, in stark contrast to weak controls over the behaviour of parliamentarians or managers

- Whistleblowing; all institutions should develop internal procedures for reporting, harmonized across all EU institutions, in order to protect informants and prevent illegal acts and corruption proliferating in the administration of the Union

- Financial control; the weakness with which the European Commission uses its powers to exclude and deter corrupt companies from participation in public contracts should be remedied by using its discretion, learning from international organizations like the World Bank, or advertising its database as a further deterrent against fraud and corruption

- Balance of powers at European level; the complete organizational independence of OLAF should be established, with appropriate performance measuring mechanisms for the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament.

- Fight against corruption; this must be based on judicial and  fiscal powers and on criminal law

In summary, the time has come to look ahead, lay some solid and strong anti-fraud foundations in both the Union and all of its member countries, fight all the existing weaknesses and attempt to enhance the strengths that have been identified.

The battle lines have been drawn. Now we await the results of the next report of the European Commission.

Marta Riera López is Auditor at the Auditing Authority of the Principality of Asturias in Spain