75% of EU see corruption as a major issue

According to recent Eurobarometer study issued by the European Comission and being held in 27 European countries around 75% of respondents see corruption as the major issue in their country. Greece tops the list with 80%. Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands are the least likely to think corruption is more widespread in their countries than in the EU (only 2% of respondents).

Over 50% of respondents say that the issue of corruption has become more acute over the past few years. More than 70% of Europeans believe that the corruption of local and regional level has spread to a national one. Financial sector is thought as the most corrupted.

"Corruption is a disease that destroys a country from within, undermining trust in democratic institutions, weakening the accountability of political leadership and playing into the hands of organized crime groups," said the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Cecilia Malmström.

At the same time with any cases of corruption, the Europeans prefer to rely on the police and the courts. Thus, according to the survey, 42% of respondents say they go to the police with any case of corruption, 41% rely on the judicial system; only 6% of the respondents trust the national policy, and the EU institutions with only 5% are seen as the most unreliable.

Experts believe that due to corruption the EU economy losses more than 120 billion euros per year.

In June last year, the European Commission adopted an anti-corruption package and established a specific EU monitoring and assessment mechanism (so-called an EU Anti-Corruption Report) to get clear understanding of anti-corruption efforts made in all 27 EU countries. The first report is scheduled for 2013.