Abstract:
Corruption remains one of the biggest challenges for all societies, including European societies. Although the nature and scope of corruption may differ from one EU State to another, it harms the EU as a whole by lowering investment levels, hampering the fair operation of the Internal Market and reducing public finances. Whether it takes the form of political corruption, corrupt activities committed by and with organised criminal groups, private-to-private corruption or so-called petty corruption, the abuse of power for private gain is not acceptable and has dreadful consequences. Four out of five EU citizens regard corruption as a major problem in their State. This reality highlights the need for restoring trust in the effectiveness of anti-corruption policies and calls for firm political commitment. Romania has made significant progress in the past two years in fighting top-level corruption, which has been acknowledged in the European Commission’s recent CVM report and the Council of Europe’s GRECO report.