With a score of 45 out of 100, Romania remains among the worst-performing countries in the EU in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International.

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The CPI global average remains unchanged at 43 for the tenth year in a row, and two-thirds of countries score below 50.

The perception of corruption in the public sector in the country is similar to last year and 2019, when Romania had a score of 44, but also to the 2012 results, when the score was also 44.

Alongside Romania, the bottom scorers include Bulgaria, with a score of 42, and Hungary, with a score of 43. The top of the CPI is led by Denmark (88) and Finland (88), followed by Norway (85) and Sweden (85). The EU average remained at 64. 

In Romania, one of the most vulnerable areas was that of public acquisitions, with an impact on the transparency regarding public expenses during the pandemic, Transparency International Romania explained. The organization recommends the use of Integrity Pacts as a solution to ensure transparency, efficiency and equal treatment in public acquisitions. 

Among the EU countries that gained more than 10 points over the past decade are Greece and Italy, with 13 and 14 points respectively between 2012 and 2021. Greece went from a score of 36 in 2012 to 49 in 2021, while Italy went from 42 in 2012 to 56 in 2021. At the opposite end, Cyprus and Hungary lost 13 and 12 points respectively, ending up with scores of 53 and 43 in the 2021 CPI.

The 2021 CPI is available here.

(Photo: Yuryz | Dreamstime.com)

simona@romania-insider.com