Transparency International Slovensko (TIS), a corruption watchdog NGO, has ranked Slovakia as the fifth worst country out of 27 European Union member states in citizens’ perception of corruption based on an evaluation conducted by Transparency International that evaluated 183 countries in 2010, in which Slovakia placed 66th, the SITA newswire wrote.
New Zealand, Denmark and Finland are in the best five countries while the worst countries include Italy, Romania, Greece and Bulgaria. At the bottom of the list are North Korea and Somalia.
Among the Visegrad Group countries Poland was evaluated best (41st place), followed by Hungary (54th), the Czech Republic (57th) while Slovakia took 66th place.
This comparison is the most quoted index of corruption in the world but TIS said that it is difficult to compare the 2010 data with the 2009 data as the criteria had been changed and in the case of Slovakia the new indicators represented 40 percent of the evaluation. TIS stated, however, as reported by SITA, that Slovakia’s ranking sends a signal ahead of next year’s March elections that any new government, as well as all political parties, should pay attention to the country’s fight against corruption.
The Corruption Perception Index – CPI – was calculated by TI headquarters in Berlin and includes, in case of Slovakia, data from 10 polls and studies by 7 institutions. The index is based on perception of a country’s corruption in autumn 2010.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
1. Dec 2011 at 14:00