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CRIME

Italy still seen as one of Europe’s most corrupt countries

Despite continued improvements, Italy ranked among the worst in Europe - again - when it comes to perceived corruption in an annual index by Transparency International.

Published: 25 January 2022 18:07 CET
Updated: 26 January 2022 09:35 CET
Italy still seen as one of Europe's most corrupt countries
Rome city councillors hold banners reading "Honesty, Transparancy, Conspiracy of silence" as they protest alleged corruption in 2016. Photo: AFP

Italy once again ranked among the most corrupt countries in Europe on the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International on Tuesday.

The index ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The results are given on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Italy’s score of 56/100 puts it 42nd out of 180 countries on the list, and among the countries in the European Union perceived as most corrupt along with Slovenia (which scored 57) and Poland (56).

Ranked worst among all European Union member states was Hungary, at 43rd place with a score of 53.

The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived (not actual) levels of public sector corruption, using a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

READ ALSO: Venetians protest cruise ships and corruption after historic flooding

Though Italy has long been perceived as one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, the latest edition of the annual study shows things have in fact improved again this year.

Italy has improved its ranking by three points since scoring 53/100 in last year’s index.

The rankings show improvement over the past decade, as Italy ranked 42nd on the list in 2012.

Transparency International said in its report that Italy’s improvement this year “is the result of the growing attention paid to the problem of corruption in the last decade, and bodes well for the country’s economic recovery after the crisis generated by the pandemic”.

Italy had “reaped the rewards of anti-corruption reforms” over the past year, it said, while stressing that it remains among the European region’s low scorers.

“Legislative gaps need to be urgently filled for lobbying and beneficial ownership in Italy,” Transparency International said.

According to the report, Italians believe the two most corrupt institutions in the country are political parties and parliament itself.

At the top of the table, Denmark, New Zealand and Finland share the desirable position of world’s least corrupt country, followed by Norway and Singapore.

Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany complete the top 10.

With an average score of 66 out of 100, Western Europe and the EU still tops the CPI but progress in recent years has plateaued, the report stated.

“Countries in Western Europe and the European Union continue to wrestle with transparency and accountability in their response to Covid-19, threatening the region’s clean image,” Transparency International writes.

The organisation on Tuesday predicted “trouble ahead for the stagnating region”.

Countries with well-protected civil liberties generally score higher on the CPI, while countries who violate civil liberties tend to score lower, Transparency International writes.

READ ALSO: 12 statistics that show how the pandemic has hit Italy’s quality of life

But even at the top end of the index, countries are failing to improve their records on public sector corruption, according to the report.

The index also noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had been used in some countries as an excuse to “curtail basic freedoms and side-step important checks and balances”.

“In authoritarian contexts where control rests with a few, social movements are the last remaining check on power. It is the collective power held by ordinary people from all walks of life that will ultimately deliver accountability,” CEO Daniel Eriksson said on the Transparency International website.

According to the index, 131 countries have made no significant progress against corruption in the last decade. Two-thirds of countries scored below 50, indicating that they have serious corruption problems, while 27 countries are at their lowest score ever.

The Corruption Perceptions Index is the most widely-used global corruption ranking in the world and measures how corrupt experts and businesspeople perceive each country’s public sector to be, based on a minimum of three data sources drawn from institutions including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

It does not relate to corruption in the private sector, including money laundering and tax fraud.

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CRIME

‘Now or never’: Victims of Italy’s predator priests push for abuse inquiry

Victims of paedophile priests on Tuesday unveiled a campaign for Italy to hold an independent investigation into abuse carried out on the Vatican's doorstep.

Published: 15 February 2022 12:15 CET
'Now or never': Victims of Italy's predator priests push for abuse inquiry

As inquiries across the United States, Europe and Australia have exposed the scale of the sex abuse problem and cover-ups within the Church, campaigners say Italy can no longer avoid scrutiny.

“The government must act, must take advantage of the momentum created by impartial investigations elsewhere,” Francesco Zanardi, founder of Rete l’Abuso (Abuse Network), told AFP.

“If Italy doesn’t do it now, I fear it never will,” said Zanardi, who was abused by a priest as a young teen.

Nine groups are now forming a consortium aimed at putting pressure on the country to launch a probe like the ones seen recently in France and Germany.

Cristina Balestrini, who set up a support group for families after her son was abused by a priest, told AFP that the most important thing for survivors was “to make sure it never happens again”.

“There are many victims who commit suicide, and no one knows about it,” Balestrini said.

Rete L’Abuso has recorded more than 300 cases of priests accused or convicted of child sexual abuse in the past 15 years in Italy, out of a total of 50,000 priests across the country.

READ MORE:

Giada Vitale is just one example the group cites. She was a shy 13-year old organ player when her parish priest, Marino Genova, abused her in the vestry. She was molested for three years.

Vitale’s tormentor was convicted in 2020, but victim groups say such a conviction is rare because Italy lags behind other countries in tackling predators.

Precise figures on the scale of the problem are impossible to come by.

The Vatican’s top clerical abuse advisor told AFP this month it was time for the Catholic-majority country to hold its own reckoning.

The church is not as powerful as it once was in Italy, but it retains a huge influence and two-thirds of the population are believers according to a 2019 survey.

Pope Francis, who has toughened the punishments meted out to abusing priests under Vatican law, on Monday streamlined the Vatican office that processes abuse complaints, in an attempt to expedite cases.

But Zanardi of Rete l’Abuso said he “would have little faith” in an in-house investigation.

Balestrini, 56, is also distrustful of the church since “they acted as if we were the enemy, making us victims twice over” after her teenage son was abused in 2011.

The cleric in question, Mauro Galli, as initially quietly moved to another parish. He would later be convicted.

She hopes the consortium will be able to pressure the church to open its archives, because the scandal, she said, “is much bigger than you can imagine”.

Balestrini said unearthing the truth would not be easy for Italy, but the church would be wise to take an active role in cleaning itself up.

“At the moment, they are trying to keep a lid on it, but it’s better to choose to take the lid off yourself, than have it blown off.”