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The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body (GRECO) today warned that public perceptions of low levels of corruption in certain countries may lead to underestimating the need for measures to combat corrupt practices. GRECO also expressed concern about the overall slow progress in implementing its recommendations and called on states to address them without delay.

In its annual report, GRECO reviews action taken by its 49 member states against corruption in 2018, notably in respect of MPs, judges and prosecutors, as well as its most recent evaluation round focusing on preventing corruption in central governments and law enforcement agencies.

Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland said: “Corruption has devastating consequences for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Overall our member states have made progress to put in place measures to prevent and combat corruption, but much more needs to be done. GRECO´s recommendations are not optional. Governments, parliamentarians and other national authorities should show their commitment to fighting corruption by fully implementing GRECO´s recommendations”.

With respect to Armenia, the report says the anti-corruption efforts in the country were evaluated in 2014, with the first compliance report on the findings published in 2017.

GRECO submitted a total of 24 recommendations to Armenia, placing it among the countries with the greatest number of recommendations with Turkey, Greece and North Macedonia.

However, Armenia implemented only 7 out of 24 recommendations in 2018. 14 recommendations were partly implemented, while the remaining 3 recommendations were not implemented at all.

7 recommendations issued by the anti-corruption body to Armenia concerned parliamentarians, of which only one was implemented, 5 – partly implemented and one – not implemented at all.

With respect to judges, 3 recommendations out of 10 issued by the organization were fully implemented, 6 were partly implemented, while 1 was not implemented at all.

GRECO issued 7 recommendations relating to prosecutors, of which 3 were implemented, 3 – partly implemented and one – not implemented.