Mapping Best Practices on Transparency, Integrity, Accountability and Anti-corruption

Mapping Best Practices on Transparency, Integrity, Accountability and Anti-corruption
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre:
ISBN: 9789284806348

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This analysis explores examples of best practices from selected parliaments in the areas of transparency, integrity, accountability and anti-corruption, and reflects on the effectiveness of the analysed approaches and their possible applicability for the European Parliament (EP). Findings confirm the need for the establishment of an independent European Union (EU) ethics body, granted investigative and enforcement powers with full transparency of enquiries, decisions and/or proposals as a pre-condition for its effectiveness and regaining citizens' trust in the work of EU institutions. Stricter rules should be applied for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and EP staff regarding post-employment lobbying activities, along with more comprehensive and consistent disclosure of data on meetings with lobbyists, including foreign (third country) entities. In addition, mandatory training for all MEPs on integrity, transparency, accountability and anti-corruption standards should be introduced. Finally, more effective mechanisms of citizens and civil society engagement in the EP work should be introduced as a way of further strengthening the EP's accountability and improving its responsiveness to citizens' concerns.

Accountability, Parliamentarism and Transparency in the EU

Accountability, Parliamentarism and Transparency in the EU
Author: Adam Cygan
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2013
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1782548653

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It was a great pleasure to find such a rich analysis of the role of national parliaments in the EU. What I particularly like - and what proves to be particularly fruitful is the combination of perspectives; the EU law and national constitutional perspective including a comparative dimension, the perspective that explains the role of national parliaments in the EU from past to present (and even near future) and last but not least, the perspective of the interaction between the legal frameworks and the political reality. There is every reason to congratulate Adam Cygan wholeheartedly on this book. Ton Van Den Brink, Europa Instituut Utrecht, The Netherlands One of the most outstanding specialists on the role of national parliaments in the EU has produced another impressive book about this dynamic topic. It provides an illuminating overview of current practices, it sharply analyses the legal status quo, and it brings theoretical depth to the topic in multiple perspectives. Olaf Tans, Amsterdam University College, The Netherlands This accessible and detailed book takes an interdisciplinary approach in exploring the position of national parliaments in the EU polity and in particular their position within the EU governance framework. Adam Cygan analyses the impact of subsidiarity monitoring upon national parliaments and to what extent this provides new opportunities for national parliaments to be engaged in, and exert influence over, the EU legislative process. While the post-Lisbon position of national parliaments may have improved, this book questions whether national parliaments can really be considered as central actors in EU affairs. The author also queries whether subsidiarity monitoring has the capacity to create a collective bloc of horizontal actors which exert effective accountability over the EU legislative process. Accountability, Parliamentarism and Transparency in the EU will strongly appeal to academics, parliamentarians/parliamentary officials working in EU affairs, as well as EU civil servants.

Financial Accountability in the European Union

Financial Accountability in the European Union
Author: Paul Stephenson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2020-11-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000223558

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This book offers comprehensive coverage of various aspects of financial accountability around the EU budget – how it is spent via policies, how institutions engage in checking policy performance (what taxpayers’ money actually delivers), and therein, the issues of monitoring, controlling, auditing, scrutinising and communicating budgetary expenditure. Presenting conceptual and theoretical approaches including financial accountability, learning, multi-level governance, implementation and throughput legitimacy, it looks at EU institutions (European Parliament, European Court of Auditors, European Ombudsman, European Public Prosecutor’s Office) and national bodies (supreme audit institutions at the national level), examining their contact with the EU budget. It details the historical development of accountability mechanisms (the ‘statement of assurance’, financial corrections, and parliamentary oversight by the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT)), and examines policy areas such as those of agriculture, social policy and cohesion (including Structural Funds and the Common Agricultural Policy), exploring the challenges of financial accountability in practice. Given the recent introduction of non-budgetary financial instruments and tools only partly financed by the EU budget, it sheds light on new burgeoning areas such as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) and the challenges they bring for ensuring the accountability of public money. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of audit and evaluation, budgetary spending and financial control and, more broadly, public administration, public policy and EU institutions and politics.

Improving the Transparency and Accountability of EU Institutions

Improving the Transparency and Accountability of EU Institutions
Author: Petia Kostadinova
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

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This research focuses on the inquiries into alleged maladministration by EU institutions completed by the Office of the European Ombudsman (EO) during the period 1996-2012, seeking to highlight the ways in which the Ombudsman advances democracy in the European Union (EU). The article analyses the content of an original dataset consisting of 515 critical remarks and 113 follow-up inquiries issued by the EO. The study shows that concerns about transparency and accountability dominate citizens' complaints to the Ombudsman. Further, the analysis concludes that, when EU institutions were subject to critical remarks, in the majority of instances they adopted the EO's recommendation to increase the transparency and/or accountability of their practices. The EO's impact is observable both during the inquiry process and after it issues critical remarks. The article links these conclusions to a broader discussion of the democratic dilemmas in the EU.

The European Union Integrity System

The European Union Integrity System
Author: Louis Hancisse
Publisher:
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2014
Genre: Political corruption
ISBN:

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Can we be sure that the European Union institutions are free of the corruption risks present at the national level? Public trust in the EU institutions is low, and recent scandals have called into question EU integrity. The Transparency International EU Office presents the first ever comprehensive review of corruption and integrity risks in the EU institutions,the EU Integrity System Report, to separate myth from reality and put forward recommendations for reform. The report recommends tightening regulation of lobbying, reducing conflicts of interest, enhancing protection for whistle-blowers and curbing secret deal-making in sensitive policy areas like financial services. Weak enforcement of the existing rules means that "corruption risks persist at the E.U. level," the risks contribute to public skepticism of "the commitment of politicians and bureaucrats to a more open and ethical style of government."

Lobbying in the 21st Century Transparency, Integrity and Access

Lobbying in the 21st Century Transparency, Integrity and Access
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2021-05-20
Genre:
ISBN: 9264813381

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Lobbying, as a way to influence and inform governments, has been part of democracy for at least two centuries, and remains a legitimate tool for influencing public policies. However, it carries risks of undue influence.

OECD Public Integrity Handbook

OECD Public Integrity Handbook
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2020-05-20
Genre:
ISBN: 9264536175

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The OECD Public Integrity Handbook provides guidance to government, business and civil society on implementing the OECD Recommendation on Public Integrity. The Handbook clarifies what the Recommendation’s thirteen principles mean in practice and identifies challenges in implementing them.

The Capital: A Novel

The Capital: A Novel
Author: Robert Menasse
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2019-06-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1631495720

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Winner of the German Book Prize, The Capital is an “omniscient, almost Balzac-ian” (Steven Erlanger, New York Times) panorama of splintered Europe. A highly inventive novel of ideas written in the rich European tradition, The Capital—epic in scope, but so particular in details—transports readers to the cobblestoned streets of twenty-first-century Brussels. Chosen as the European Union’s symbolic capital in 1958 for no reason other than Belgium coming first alphabetically, this elusive setting has never been examined so intricately in literature. Here, in Robert Menasse’s “great EU novel” (Politico), tragic heroes, clever schemers, and involuntary accomplices play out the effects of a fiercely nationalistic “union.” Recalling the Balzacian conceit of assembling a vast parade of characters whose lives conspire to form a driving central plot, Menasse adapts this technique with modern sensibility to reveal the hastily assembled capital in all of its eccentricities. We meet, among others, Fenia Xenopoulou, a Greek Cypriot recently “promoted” to the Directorate-General for Culture. When tasked with revamping the boring image of the European Commission with the Big Jubilee Project, she endorses her Austrian assistant Martin Sussman’s idea to proclaim Auschwitz as its birthplace—of course, to the horror of the other nation states. Meanwhile, Inspector Émile Brunfaut attempts to solve a gritty murder being suppressed at the highest level; Matek, a Polish hitman who regrets having never become a priest, scrambles after taking out the wrong man; and outraged pig farmers protest trade restrictions as a brave escapee squeals through the streets. These narratives and more are masterfully woven, revealing the absurdities—and real dangers—of a fracturing Europe. A tour de force from one of Austria’s most esteemed novelists, The Capital is a mordantly funny and piercingly urgent saga of the European Union, and an aerial feat of sublime world literature.

Accountability and Democratic Legitimacy in EU Economic Governance

Accountability and Democratic Legitimacy in EU Economic Governance
Author: Menelaos Markakis
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre:
ISBN:

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This article looks at the measures that were adopted in response to the Euro crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic and their implications for accountability and democratic legitimacy in the area of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The discussion begins with the legitimacy issues that were facing the EMU/EU in the aftermath of the Euro crisis, as well as the accountability and transparency arrangements that obtain in the area of EU economic governance. The focus then shifts to the further evolution of the Economic Union (the 'E' of EMU), as triggered by the EU's response to the pandemic. The relevant section does not purport to provide a detailed exegesis of the powers of the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (and their domestic-level, principally technocratic, counterparts) in all sub-fields of EMU. It rather aims to illustrate the significance of their ever-expanding tasks, as well as the need that the exercise of those powers be subject to robust accountability and transparency arrangements. Accordingly, the discussion of the key features of these novel measures is followed by analysis of the accountability arrangements that are enshrined therein or accompany them, as well as their implications for the legitimacy of EMU/EU. It will be shown that, although there has been some progress made in terms of accountability and transparency, plenty of gaps remain. The penultimate section will provide a glimpse into what the future may bring for EMU, thereby looking at other suggested reforms that could be implemented in order to further 'deepen' the EMU. It will be argued that those reform plans emanating from (or under consideration by) the EU institutions have not always placed enough emphasis on the need for robust accountability and transparency arrangements and that their potentially far-reaching nature bolsters the argument made in this paper that such arrangements would be indispensable. It will be concluded that our assessment of the degree of accountability and democratic legitimacy in this area varies depending on the aspects of crisis reforms one focuses on. It is further argued that the empowerment of the European Parliament (and, where appropriate, of national parliaments) in EMU matters must continue in the future, especially as more reforms are implemented to ensure a robust EMU framework.