The Czech Republic should take decisive measures to prevent corruption among lawmakers, judges and prosecutors, wrote the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption group GRECO in its assessment report.
The Czech Republic has a solid legal framework for fighting corruption in the highest executive positions, but too little focus on mentoring and training, as well as on monitoring and enforcing anti-corruption rules, the report says.
GRECO, which issued a series of recommendations in the past on how the Czech Republic should proceed and which has been continuously assessing the country, says in its latest report that the Czech Republic should better identify and address risks related to the integrity of persons in top executive positions. The report recommended that the Czech authorities do so, for example, through analysis and clear rules for the appointment of ministerial advisors.
In the report, GRECO points out that most of those in top executive positions are not subject to ethical rules or integrity advice and that lobbying remains unregulated. It stresses the need to tighten rules on accepting gifts and invitations, on external activities and post-employment restrictions.
The report also stresses that advisers to ministers should be required to disclose their assets, interests and activities. Declarations by persons in senior executive positions should be made available to the public in a straightforward and timely fashion, and should be verified by an independent review mechanism.
With regard to the police, GRECO recommends that the Czech authorities take measures to increase the representation of women at all levels, in particular in senior positions. It believes that integrity checks should be carried out regularly during the careers of police officers.
The report also calls for better regulation of sponsorship and other donations to the police to increase transparency and avoid conflicts of interest, and for ethical standards to be complemented by practical guidelines and a confidential counselling mechanism.
GRECO also suggests the adoption of appropriate legislation on post-employment restrictions.
Last but not least, complaints against police officers and the measures taken to address them should be made public, the report says.
The Council of Europe is an international organisation based in Strasbourg. It brings together 47 European countries and has no connection with the European Union or its institutions.
