Romania as corrupted as Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, study says

Newsroom 03/12/2014 | 10:57

Romania, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria are seen as equally corrupt among EU countries, being positioned on the 69^th place, while Denmark is the least corrupted country, ranking first place, according to the yearly corruption perception index published by Transparency International on December 3.

The index scores and ranks countries around the world based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), Romania having the same score as in the previous year, scoring 43 points. Overall, EU and Western Countries have an average of 66, the biggest score by region, while global average score is 43.

According to Transparency International, corruption is a problem for all countries. A poor score is likely a sign of widespread bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs. Countries at the top of the index also need to act. Leading financial centres in the EU and US need to join with fast-growing economies to stop the corrupt from getting away with it. The G20 needs to prove its global leadership role and prevent money laundering and stop secret companies from masking corruption.