Transparency confirms for the second consecutive year a deterioration in the fight against corruption in Spain

Francisco Correa, confessed ringleader of the Gürtel plot, upon his arrival this Monday at the National Court, where he is being tried for one of the pieces of the summary. Alejandro Martínez Vélez (Europa Press)

The fight against corruption in Spain was, during 2022, somewhat worse than the previous year.

And it's not the first time.

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which is prepared annually by Transparency International, warns that, for the second consecutive year, Spain is not advancing in its efforts to prevent and combat this scourge.

Although the drop is slight -from one point to 60 on a scale of 100, in which the higher the score the lower the presence of corruption-, this independent body points out that "a drop for the second consecutive year is a clear sign of risk and danger of continuing to decline in the following year”.

The index, which has been produced since 1995, uses 13 surveys and evaluations prepared by specialists, which are later unified.

With the new rating, Spain now ranks 35th out of the 180 countries analyzed -together with Botswana, Cape Verde and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines-, and falls one position compared to the previous year, three compared to the 2020 report and five compared to the previous year. to that of 2019. Far behind are the four countries that lead the list ―Denmark (90), Finland, New Zealand (both with 87) and Norway (84)―, but also the great powers of the European Union.

Germany receives a score of 79 and France 72. Within the EU, Spain remains in 14th place among the 27 states, just behind Portugal and Lithuania (which have 62 points).

Italy continues below, with 56 points.

However, the report highlights that the EU has suffered "a severe blow after the unprecedented corruption scandal caused by the so-called

in reference to the alleged bribery of MEPs by the emirate.

Transparency International attributes a good part of the decrease to the parameters measured by the

, from the World Economic Forum, one of the evaluations used to prepare the report.

According to him, Spain has worsened its score in terms of "irregular payments in public services, exports and imports, and judicial decisions in corruption cases."

This has been added to other causes that had been dragging on from previous years, such as the stagnation of the renewal process of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ);

the delay in regulating the work of pressure groups and the conflicts of interest of public sector personnel, and the “notable delay” in adapting a new regulatory framework for access to public information.

The agency also calls on Spain to approve a law for the protection of people who report violations and corruption to create complaint channels that guarantee confidentiality to them, as established by a European directive that should have been part of the Spanish legal system since December 2021. When it comes into force, all the public administration and companies with more than 50 workers will be obliged to have channels to channel complaints such as those made by Edward Snowden, the consultant who revealed the scope of the espionage of the National Security Agency (NSA, in its acronym in English) of the US, or José Luis Peñas, the former PP councilor who uncovered the

.

The report also criticizes the maintenance by Spain of the so-called "golden visas" (popularly known by the English term

), a program that was launched within the Entrepreneurs Law in 2013 approved by the Government of Mariano Rajoy, by which foreign citizens see simplified procedures to obtain residence permits if they make an investment in the country.

The objective was to attract capital after the 2008 economic crisis, but in Spain it has mainly resulted in the purchase of homes, especially Russians and Chinese.

The minimum is half a million euros and can be achieved by buying a home or several apartments that add up to or exceed that amount.

In this sense, the body also criticizes that in Spain there is still no central registry of beneficial owners.

Congress and the Senate are also not immune to criticism from Transparency International and, specifically, the breach of the codes of conduct of both chambers.

As the report highlights, more than half of the parliamentarians "do not publish their agendas and those that are published contain absolutely unequal information", in addition to not collecting the meetings they hold with pressure groups.

"All these aspects clearly affect our ability to continue advancing in anti-corruption matters," the agency said in a press release.

Silvina Bacigalupo, president of Transparency International in Spain, emphasizes that "the delays in carrying out the necessary legal reforms have taken their toll" on the qualification obtained by Spain in the 2022 Corruption Perception Index and makes "an appeal to Parliament to that it does not delay any longer in carrying out the necessary laws aimed at preventing corruption and reinforcing transparency and accountability”.

Little progress since 2017 in 95% of countries

Spain is not the only country that is hurt in the new report by Transparency International.

As highlighted by this body in a note, since 2017, 95% of countries "have made little or no progress" in the fight against corruption.

In fact, the average score remains, for the 11th consecutive year, unchanged at 43 points on a scale of 100. More than two-thirds of the countries score below 50. Three countries at war or have recently experienced war They are the most affected by this scourge.

These are, specifically, South Sudan (with 13 points), Syria (also 13) and Somalia (12).

The report also highlights that in another country, Yemen, which scores 16, it was precisely allegations of corruption that "helped spark a civil war" eight years ago,

which has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises.

The report also highlights that in 26 countries -including Qatar (58), Guatemala (24) and the United Kingdom (73)- this year it has reached historical lows.

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