Out of 180 countries and territories, Serbia is in 96th place, the organization Transparency of Serbia announced today, based on research on corruption in the public sector for the past year. Out of a hundred ideals, the corruption index in Serbia is 38.
This is the third year in a row that Serbia is in the bottom half of the table. Of the countries in the region, only Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are behind Serbia. Last year, Serbia was in 94th place, but with the same number of points - 38. Apart from us, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Lesotho and Turkey have this number of points.
Serbia has five points less than the world average, 19 points below the European average, and 26 points behind the average of the part of Europe we want to become a part of.
In this year's report, the connection between human rights and democracy and corruption was particularly pointed out. "Corruption enables the violation of human rights, and in contrast, the provision of basic rights and freedoms leaves less room for corruption to flourish."
According to Transparency, Serbia's decline in corruption research is expected. The long-standing "absence of political will" to apply anti-corruption laws has been replaced this year by the existence of "political will" not to apply the laws - illegal management of the most valuable public companies, and above all EPS, and non-transparency about COVID procurement, are some of the latest example.
Transparency is highlighted by the public prosecutor's office, which does not provide clear answers to documented suspicions of corruption.
In March of last year, the Law on Determining the Origin of Assets began to be applied, which SNS assessed as the key in the fight against corruption because it will enable everyone without distinction to be subject to sanctions. So far, it has turned out that the passing of this Law was a show-off, and that its effects are minor.
Transparency Serbia is part of the anti-corruption organization Transparency International.
This survey "represents the opinion or impression of the corruption of government officials and public servants by those who do business with them or who advise business people, governments and international institutions."
The results of another survey, on the perception of citizens in the fight against corruption for 2021, which were published in December last year, showed the same situation. According to this national survey, which was part of the Project for Responsible Government of the USAID, and which is carried out by CESID, more than a third of citizens think that there has been an increase in corruption.
More than half of the citizens stated that reporting corrupt acts to the competent authorities would be futile and that nothing would change. At the same time, citizens have the highest expectations regarding the fight against corruption in the President and the Government.
S.Ć. /Transparency Serbia
Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com
