Denmark, New Zealand and Finland score highest in Transparency International's latest corruption survey.

Germany ranks 10th among the 180 countries and territories included in the NGO's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).

The perception of corruption in German politics and administration has not changed for years after the CPI.

For the chairman of Transparency International Germany, Hartmut Bäumer, this is no reason to be happy.

"This shows that unfortunately we are making little progress in fighting corruption," said Bäumer on Monday at the presentation of the CPI 2021. The chairman rated the introduction of the lobby register and the tightened rules on secondary activities by MPs as progress.

But the law against bribery of MPs has so far remained “practically ineffective”, as can be seen from the “mask affair”.

In March 2021 it became known that former CSU politicians had used their contacts in state and federal ministries to earn money from corona protective masks.

So far they have not been prosecuted.

Transparency International welcomes the fact that tightening of the so-called bribery clause was announced in the coalition agreement.

Nevertheless, the organization sees "massive deficits" in the fight against corruption in this country.

The lack of criminal law regulations for companies and the inadequate protection of whistleblowers are mentioned, but also the extensive validity of official secrecy in the administration.

Hungary and Turkey lose the most points

On the occasion of the presentation of the CPI 2021, it was said that the international trend continues that states that curtail constitutional and democratic institutions and violate human rights are also increasingly suffering from corruption. Among the states that have scored the most points according to the index in the past ten years lost belong to Hungary and Turkey.

Since 2012, 25 countries have improved their scores, including Italy and Armenia.

However, 25 states have also deteriorated over the same period.

Cyprus has fallen back just as much as Syria, which is second to last behind Venezuela and Somalia.

South Sudan brings up the rear.

It is also noteworthy, however, that constitutional and democratic countries, which have been pioneers in the fight against corruption for years, have made steps backwards in recent years.

Although Australia and Canada are still in the top places, they are now achieving significantly worse values ​​than ten years ago.

Transparency International describes the United States as a “problem child”.

For the first time in a decade, the country lost its place among the top 25 countries in the CPI.

However, these are still after-effects of the Trump administration, it said when asked.

There have been positive developments since the change of government.

The Biden government has identified corruption as a core problem for national security.

The CPI is based on perceptions of business representatives and country experts on corruption in politics and administration, which Transparency International compiles from 13 sources from independent institutions such as the World Bank.

So far, there is no indicator that objectively and comprehensively measures the level of corruption.

The index by Transparency International includes observations of criminal offenses such as bribery and corruption, experiences of a lack of state measures to combat corruption or the perception of the state being taken over by interest groups.

Not taken into account are, among other things, experiences of corruption by citizens, tax fraud, illegal financial flows or money laundering.