The 2023 European Commission's Rule of Law Report was published yesterday, 5 July 2023.
The Report states, inter alia, that NTA’s actions are progressing satisfactorily while the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) for the years 2022-2025 is on track.
The Report acknowledges the significant improvement in Greece's ranking in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Specifically, Greece's score in 2022 improved by 7 points (from 45 to 52) and its ranking by 16 places (from 67th to 51st) compared to 2018. The country scores 52 points in the assessment and ranks 51st in the global ranking, its highest performance in the last decade, and is now among the top 30% of the world's best performing countries.
The establishment of a comprehensive framework for gift policy and lobbying activities regulation is positively assessed. At the same time, there is a need to plan awareness-raising actions aimed at increasing the number of registrations in the Transparency Registry. The following NTA initiatives contribute to this direction: i) the Code of Conduct for representatives of interest groups, with practical guidelines for communication with the institutions in order to ensure transparency and integrity in the decision-making process and to avoid conflicts of interest or any undue influence and ii) the dedicated electronic platform https://lobbying.aead. gr
Significant improvement has been made in ensuring the effective and systematic verification of the tax returns accuracy as secondary legislation allowing for the full implementation of the law adopted from May 2022.
The Report also recognised the progress made in the area of public integrity. In this direction, the NTA has contributed to the publication of a Code of Conduct for elected local authorities as well as a code of ethics and professional conduct for public sector employees.
In the area of public procurement, specific reference is made to the Technical Assistance Programme coordinated by the NTA to strengthen transparency and integrity in this sector through an integrated risk management system.
Finally, the Report also makes specific reference to the Law on the Protection of Persons Reporting Breaches of EU Law (Law 4990/2022 - Whistleblowing), which designates the NTA as the external channel for receiving, managing and following up on reports of violations falling within the scope of the law.