According to Transparency International’s corruption index published on Tuesday, Austria has moved up two places in the international ranking and is now in 20th place out of 180. Alexander Picker, CEO of TI-Austria, sees this as a “sobering testimony for the republic” and also warns the increasing disillusionment with politics.
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Five years ago, Austria was ranked twelfth in the world and tenth in Europe in the international corruption index. However, numerous scandals – such as the publication of the Ibiza video – have contributed to a noticeable deterioration in the ranking. The stricter criminal law on corruption, for example, did not contribute much to the positive. These steps would only have an impact in the future, emphasized Picker.
Denmark in first place
Denmark once again secured first place in the international comparison this year (90 points), with Finland and New Zealand in second and third place. This time Austria was only able to score 71 points and is only in 13th place in a European comparison.
The neighboring countries Germany and Switzerland, for example, performed significantly better. The bottom performers internationally are Somalia (11 points) as well as Venezuela, Syria and South Sudan with 13 points each.
According to Georg Krakow, board member of TI-Austria, the index is not just about whether criminal behavior was actually committed, but rather about what image politics, administration and justice present to the outside and inside. It is high time for all responsible decision-makers to “pull themselves together and live up to the high standards of role model function that they have”.
This has to improve
According to Krakow, “urgent milestones on the way back to the upper class” are the federal public prosecutor’s office, an adaptation of the criminal procedure code to today’s technology and a high standard of legal protection as well as an improvement in the lobbying law. The Freedom of Information Act, i.e. the abolition of official secrecy, is not due to be passed in the National Council until Wednesday.
The Corruption Perception Index covers the last three years and aggregates data from 13 data sources from twelve different institutions. The values determined are presented on a scale from 0 (high level of perceived corruption) to 100 (no perceived corruption). Some of the sources also analyze the mechanisms available to prevent corruption in a country, such as legal protection for whistleblowers, journalists and investigators.
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Source: Nachrichten
