Can the EU Slow the Corruption Wave Sweeping Europe?

"There is no clean country. Everyone is affected by corruption and financial fraud," European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi declared last month while presenting findings from the European Public Prosecutor's Office. Her stark assessment comes as investigators uncover organized-crime schemes targeting EU agricultural subsidies and the bloc's Recovery and Resilience Facility, with hundreds of billions of euros at risk.

The scale of the problem is immense. Corruption costs the European Union an estimated €990 billion annually—approximately 6% of EU GDP—while simultaneously eroding democratic institutions and fueling public discontent across member states.

Background and Context

For decades, European nations set global standards for good governance. Denmark and Finland continue to rank among the world's least corrupt countries. Yet the broader European picture has deteriorated markedly since the early 2000s, with even traditionally clean countries like Austria showing alarming declines in accountability.

The European Union was notably slow to prioritize corruption control. While institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund developed detailed anti-corruption agendas by the 1990s, the EU largely avoided the issue for another decade, operating under the assumption that member states were performing adequately on governance.

Early EU efforts, such as the 1988 Anti-Fraud Coordination Unit and the 1995 Convention on the Protection of the European Communities' Financial Interests, proved slow to take effect. The situation worsened during EU enlargement in the 2000s, when membership conditionality effectively disappeared once countries joined the bloc, leaving Brussels with few tools to address post-accession backsliding.

Key Figures and Entities

The European Commission, led by President Ursula von der Leyen, has increasingly used financial conditionality to enforce governance standards. In 2023, the Commission froze billions in funds for Hungary and Poland over rule-of-law violations, though enforcement has proven inconsistent.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has emerged as a pivotal figure in EU anti-corruption dynamics. In December 2023, the Commission released €10 billion in frozen Hungarian funds in exchange for Orbán's approval of budget increases and Ukraine-related financing, demonstrating how governance enforcement can become entangled with broader political imperatives.

The European Parliament has not been immune to corruption scandals. The Qatargate affair and subsequent accusations against former Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders have damaged public trust in EU institutions, raising questions about whether such scandals represent isolated incidents or structural failures.

Legal and Financial Mechanisms

EU treaties define corruption narrowly—primarily as bribery involving EU or member-state officials—leaving common forms of misconduct like nepotism, cronyism, and revolving-door abuses largely unaddressed. According to the European Commission, only eight member countries criminalize illicit enrichment, and penalties for corruption offenses vary dramatically across the bloc.

The 2014 EU Anti-Corruption Report represented a potential breakthrough in monitoring, but political pressure from member states led to its discontinuation after just one cycle. The 2020s have brought more promising developments, including the Rule of Law Framework and annual Rule of Law Reports that provide structured tracking of corruption-related developments.

The Commission's 2023 proposed anti-corruption legislation marks a significant turning point. For the first time, offenses such as illicit enrichment, abuse of functions, and trafficking in influence would be recognized as corruption across all member states. The directive also seeks to replace outdated conventions and harmonize penalties throughout the EU.

International Implications and Policy Response

Russia's war in Ukraine has complicated EU anti-corruption efforts. Major decisions requiring unanimous approval have given leaders like Orbán disproportionate leverage in Brussels. The need to maintain unity on sanctions and Ukraine aid has repeatedly forced the Commission to make difficult trade-offs between governance enforcement and geopolitical cohesion.

Transatlantic dynamics add another layer of complexity. While the Biden administration's multilateral approach to corruption bolstered EU efforts, the unpredictable nature of U.S. foreign policy under different administrations has highlighted the need for greater European self-reliance—ironically, at a time when anti-EU parties are gaining influence across the continent.

Eurobarometer surveys confirm that citizens recognize the severity of the problem: in 16 member countries, at least three-quarters of the public believes corruption is widespread, while approximately two-thirds of EU-based businesses share this assessment.

Sources

This report draws on findings from the European Public Prosecutor's Office, European Commission reports and proposals, Eurobarometer survey data, and public statements from EU officials. Additional context comes from academic research on EU governance and independent media reporting on corruption cases between 2014 and 2024.