"Gray zones" in the fight against corruption persist in France, alerted this Thursday, the Group of States against Corruption (Greco) of the Council of Europe, which called on Paris to do more to prevent corruption "within the executive".
"The growing expectation of citizens for the exemplarity of members of the executive (...) is palpable in France", insisted the anti-corruption body of the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, in its latest report 71 pages.
Emmanuel Macron, "not exempt from the risk of corruption"
However, "gray areas where additional efforts are needed" remain, despite "positive" developments, such as the creations of the French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA), the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP ) or that of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office, notes the report.
"Greater transparency is required", particularly with regard to "contacts between the executive and interest groups so that their influence" on decisions "is clearer," said Greco, who recommends that " the members of the executive, including the President of the Republic, "report publicly and at regular intervals on the lobbyists met and the issues addressed". El Greco welcomes the recent adoption of a plan to detect and prevent the risk of corruption "within the ministries" but recommends its extension "to the office of the President of the Republic (…), not exempt from the risk of corruption".
Protection of whistleblowers pointed at
The declarations of patrimony and interests of the President of the Republic should also be "examined upon his entry into office in order to defuse any possible conflict of interest", suggests the report, according to which the ministers suspected of corruption should no longer be tried. by the Court of Justice of the Republic, "made up of half of parliamentarians", but by "another independent (...) and impartial court".
El Greco calls for "the development of a comprehensive strategy for the prevention of corruption" within the police and the gendarmerie, with "security checks" organized throughout careers to assess the "personal situation Agents, likely to make them "more vulnerable" to corruption. According to the report, French legislation on the protection of whistleblowers should also be improved, practice having shown that its implementation was "complex" and "not entirely effective". Composed of 48 European states plus the United States, Greco was created in 1999 to improve the capacity of its members to fight against corruption.
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