Monaco still has work to do on corruption, says GRECO

P1060187In its report on Monaco published on Thursday, July 13, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body (GRECO) concludes that although the management of anti-corruption policies has continued to evolve in the right direction in recent years and anti-corruption mechanisms have gradually been strengthened, there is still progress to be made.

The report, having been authorised by Monaco for publication, states: “In the case of members of parliament, there is no code of conduct governing the acceptance of gifts and other benefits, occasional conflicts of interest or relations with lobbies. GRECO also calls for members of parliament to be required to make periodical declarations of interests and for effective supervisory machinery to be established.”

The published document also claims “the transparency of parliamentary work and consultations needs to be improved”.

GRECO said that “there is no record of criminal or disciplinary proceedings relating to the integrity of a parliamentarian, which may be as much due to the absence of intrinsic problems as to the absence of specific rules and mechanisms designed to preserve the integrity of national elected representatives.”

As regards judges and prosecutors, Monaco makes significant use of French officials, GRECO noted. This element of outside involvement moderates the possible consequences of close social relations, according to the GRECO report.

A team of evaluators had visited Monaco in November, 2016, to meet, among others, parliamentarians and magistrates.

Subsequently, a Monegasque delegation visited Strasbourg in order to be able to answer questions from the members of the GRECO Committee – meeting in plenary session – and to provide all relevant information.

Implementation of the 16 recommendations made to Monaco will be assessed by GRECO in the first half of 2019 under its specific monitoring procedures.

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