Monaco last week hosted representatives of the Council of Europe’s State Group Against Corruption (GRECO), as part of its fourth round of evaluation on the theme “Preventing Corruption of Members of Parliament, Judges And Prosecutors.”
The five-strong team of evaluators met representatives of the relevant Monegasque institutions (Directorate of Judicial Services and National Council), the High Commission for the Protection of Rights, Freedoms and Mediation, members of the local press and various leaders of civil society, over a four day period.
Following this visit, the team will prepare a draft report which will be sent to the Monegasque authorities for comment. The draft will then be submitted for the consideration of a plenary meeting of GRECO for consideration and adoption.
For the record, one of the commitments made by Monaco when it joined the Council of Europe in 2004 is the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption. By ratifying it in 2007, Monaco automatically acceded to GRECO. The Principality has thus joined the countries committed to actively fight against corruption, to participate in the evaluation process carried out by this group and is itself evaluated by the other member countries.
The work of the Committee is based on the mutual evaluations of its members. Since 2008, Monaco has been the subject of various evaluations under the 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles of evaluation by GRECO. These joint evaluation cycles ended in December 2012 after GRECO noted the “decisive advances” made by Monaco in the fight against corruption.
The theme of this fourth round of evaluation adopted by GRECO reflects the multidisciplinary nature of its functions and is in line with the second round of evaluation, which dealt with public administration.