Slovakia has improved in the perception of corruption
Slovakia improved in the most cited corruption perception ranking (CPI) in the Transparency International headquarters and finished in 56th place out of 180 evaluated countries. the final position for 2021 is thus four places better than the year before.
“Slovakia also recorded a positive shift in the achieved score, which increased year-on-year from 49 to 52 points out of a hundred possible. It is thus one point higher than our current maximum (the higher the score, the less corruption), “ Michal Piško, Director of Transparency International Slovakia (TIS), who said in April last year took over the leadership of the organization 11 years after Gabriel Šípoš.
According to Transparency International, the improvement of Slovakia can be seen primarily in the efforts of the police and the prosecutor’s office in detecting and prosecuting corruption. “Some progress can also be seen in the implementation of anti-corruption measures, although in this respect we have managed to achieve only a fraction of our own promises. Open competitions have been held in several important institutions, which have brought about a qualitative shift away from long-standing political newsagents. “ states analysis for 2021.
The year-on-year growth according to TIS also largely reflected the change after the previous cabinet of Petr Pellegrini (Direction, today Hlas). The ranking of perception of corruption results is calculated from the indices of various institutions, which in a year or two reflect the corruption from the point of view of entrepreneurs, investors or experts.
Where are the reserves
According to the analysis, several important institutions managed to hold open competitions, which brought a qualitative shift away from long-standing political newsagents. “Unfortunately, the government’s approach in this area has not yet been systematic, and in the past year we have witnessed several party nominations or failed selection processes.” evaluates Piško.
The EU average is still a long way off
However, despite the improvement, Slovakia still lags significantly behind the EU average, where the average score is 64. Of the 27 EU countries, only five countries finished behind us: Greece (58th place), which we managed to overtake again a year later, Croatia (63rd), Romania (66th), Hungary (73rd) and Bulgaria (78th).
The ambition of the coalition from the government’s program statement to move Slovakia in the ranking by 20 places compared to the positions before the elections is still in sight. “In order to get somewhere to the current level of Latvia (36th place), Slovenia (41st) or Poland (42nd), we would need to get 4 to 7 more points. We are still seven places behind the Czech Republic by seven positions and 2 points (49th), “ Piško said.
“Apart from the development in the investigation and punishment of corruption, the decisive factor for the further placement of Slovakia in the ranking will also be whether the burdened coalitions will be able to cope with fundamental changes. With the elections coming up, it could be even longer than before. “ predicts further development of the TIS director.
Developments in the world
The current ranking confirms the worldwide stagnation in the fight against corruption. “Two or three countries did not reach half of the possible points, while the global average score is the same as a year ago, 43 points. As many as 27 countries last year achieved their worst results in history (including Hungary). In the long run, when comparing the current score with that of ten years ago, we may be stagnant or even deteriorating in 86 percent of countries. ” assesses the situation in the world Transparency International analysis. Slovakia currently has 6 points more than in 2012.
The first position in the index was maintained by Denmark and New Zealand (as well as last year by 88 points), to which Finland also joined. Belarus recorded the largest year-on-year decline (by 6 points). Overall, the last 180th place belongs to South Sudan with 11 points. Somalia and Syria finished ahead of him with 13 points.
The Corruption Perceptions Index has been compiled by Transparency International headquarters since 1995. The ranking is calculated on the basis of countries’ results in 13 different indices of independent institutions, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, as well as consulting companies and think tanks. Transparency International is not involved in creating any of them.
The current result of Slovakia is based on the evaluation in 10 indices (which is also the number for one country), the improvement can be seen in only six of them. Slovakia has seen the biggest shift in comparing the competitiveness of the Swiss Institute for Management Development (IMD), the IHS Global Insight Business Environment Assessment and the German Bertelsmann Foundation’s Transformation Index.