Austria loses points in the corruption index
Austria has become more corrupt – this is shown by the international corruption index 2021 by Transparency International (TI) on Tuesday. Austria has lost two points since 2020 and is now in 13th place with Canada, Estonia, Iceland and Ireland with 74 out of 100 points. In 2020 you see yourself in 15th place with 76; TI Austria explained that it couldn’t go any further by saying that corruption was also becoming an increasing problem internationally.
Points are awarded, for example, for whether a government is successful in curbing corruption and whether corrupt officials are prosecuted or punished. Bribery and corruption, nepotism, misappropriation of public funds, the effective prosecution of corrupt public officials and efficient integrity mechanisms in the public sector are included under corruption.
“The result is bad and sobering, there is nothing to gloss over,” said Eva Geiblinger, CEO of TI Austria lobbying regulations and party funding. The serious allegations and scandals at the highest political level pose a major problem for the population’s trust in democracy. Blanket attacks by politicians against the judiciary and investigative authorities are unacceptable.”
The Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption found in 2021 that the Austrian government had only satisfactorily implemented two of the 19 recommendations from 2017, said TI Austria board member Georg Krakau. “In order to achieve the level required by TI-Austria in terms of anti-corruption and transparency measures, the government must apply leverage in places.” The problem is the delay in implementing the Freedom of Information Act, the subject of the federal prosecutor was discussed and loopholes recognized in the lobbying and advocacy register, but the political will for improvement is lacking.
The trend of the “corruption perception index” is steadily downwards: in 2019 Austria still had 77 points. In 2021, 74 points were the worst result since 2014. While the role model function of politics in terms of anti-corruption has been lacking in recent months and years, “everyday corruption” has declined significantly in the last ten to 20 years, according to TI Austria.
Denmark, New Zealand and Finland are in first place with 88 points. Austria also lags behind in the German-speaking region: Switzerland is seventh with 84 points, Germany tenth with 80 points. At the bottom of the list are Somalia, Syria and South Sudan.