Transparency International
Corruption index: Germany stagnates in ninth place
Germany ranks ninth in the corruption perception index. photo
© picture alliance / Franziska Kraufmann/dpa
When democratic structures and an independent judiciary are missing, corruption flourishes. Germany is doing pretty well in an international comparison. However, there is still a need for improvement.
With 78 out of 100 possible points, Germany achieved exactly the same value as ten years ago. This means that the fight against corruption is more or less stalling, complained the deputy chairwoman of Transparency Germany, Margareta Bause. “Although Germany has the problem of corruption relatively well under control, there are some open flanks.”
Denmark at the top, Hungary slipped
With the best score of 90 points, Denmark remains at the top, followed by Finland, New Zealand and Norway. However, two thirds of the 180 countries examined achieved less than 50 out of 100 points. At the bottom of the list are crisis states such as Syria, Venezuela and Somalia.
“Where the rule of law, independent media and civil society groups are weakened, that is where corruption flourishes,” explained Transparency boss Alexandra Herzog, referring to Hungary: Under the leadership of Viktor Orban, the country has slipped to 76th place. This means that Hungary is in a worse position than any other EU state.
Some loopholes
However, Transparency also sees a need to catch up in Germany: For example, loopholes would have to be closed in order to be able to take better criminal action against cases of bribery of members of parliament. The SPD, Greens and FDP had already agreed in the coalition agreement to make the criminal offense of bribery and bribery of members of parliament more effective – but the implementation of this project is a long time coming. In addition, Transparency calls for an improved lobby register that makes clear the specific influence of lobbyists on legislation.
The annual “Corruption Perceptions Index” brings together data and results from twelve independent institutions that specialize in the analysis of governance and economic climate. Sources include, among others, studies and surveys by the Bertelsmann Foundation, the African Development Bank and the World Economic Forum.