06 / 01 / 2017

Organization for economic cooperation and development

On 19 May, the OECD announced that Lithuania has completed the process to become a member of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and will become its 42nd member on 15 July. It joins 35 member countries of the OECD as well as South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia and Russia.

Council of Europe

From 3 to 5 May 2017, the Group of States against corruption (GRECO) organized an evaluators’ training seminar in the framework of the fifth evaluation cycle on “preventing corruption and promoting integrity in central governments (top executive functions) and law enforcement agencies”. The approach was practical and the programme allowed covering assessment of codes of conduct, examples of conflicts of interests or incompatibilities, etc.

On 10 May, Germany ratified the Criminal law convention on corruption and its additional protocol. They will enter into force on 1 September 2017.

On 17 May, the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, met the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland. The interview covered numerous aspects including the fight against corruption. The discussions concluded that the two organizations want to deepen and strengthen their cooperation

European Commission

The public consultation on whistleblowers’ protection opened by the Commission ended on 29 May. The objective was to collect information, points of views and experiences related to whistleblowers’ protection whether at the national level, within Member States, or at the EU level. This consultation takes place in the larger evaluation of needs at the European level, after the European parliament called, in plenary session on 14 February 2017, the Commission to take action for whistleblowers’ protection, after a press release of the Budgetary control committee in January 2017. They recommend the creation of a European independant agency with national offices in order to support whistleblowers.

World Bank

From 23 to 25 May, experts of public procurement and fight against corruption from Europe, central Asia and Canada met in Kiev to participate in the 13th Procurement, Integrity, Management and Openness Forum (PRIMO forum), co-organized by the Ukrainian Government and the World Bank, on the following theme: “Government, Business, Civil Society: Fighting Corruption Together”. At the end of the conference, each country presented its reforms and progress over the past year and actions to be implemented. An action plan was drafted and its implementation will be monitored by the governments, the international organizations and the experts on public procurement.

Open Government

On 11 May, the Sunlight Foundation published a guide to help local authorities to strengthen citizens’ participation through open data policies. If the document relies mainly on American experiences, the organization invites all users to enrich its content.