The pan-European approach in the fight against corruption: The council of Europe

This paper addresses the work of the Council of Europe in the fight against corruption. It presents briefly the Council of Europe’s organisation, activities and priorities and goes on to introduce its work in the fight against corruption. Activities in this field are carried out by the Multidisciplinary Group on Corruption (GMC) which is made up of governmental representatives of the forty Member States of the Organisation and in accordance with a Plan of Action against Corruption. Following work by the GMC, the Committee of Ministers, the decision-making body of the Council of Europe, adopted in 1997 ‘The 20 Guiding principles for the Fight against Corruption’ and in 1998 ‘The Agreement establishing the Group of States against Corruption-GRECO’ which will be called upon to monitor States’ compliance with their international commitments in the fight against corruption. Three international legal instruments are currently under preparation by the GMC, namely: a convention on corruption (dealing with the criminal aspects of the problem), a convention on civil remedies resulting from corruption and a European model code of conduct for Public Officials. Work on these instruments is well advanced and it is expected that they will be adopted before the end of 1998. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Engineering Foundation Conference on “Ethics for Science and Engineering Based International Industries”, Durham, NC, USA, 14–17 September 1997. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necesarily reflect the vews of the Organisation. Information about the Council of Europe can be obtained at 〈http://www.coe.fr〉. Science and Engineering Ethics is published by Opragen Publications, POB 54, Guildford GU1 2YF, UK. 〈http://www.cableol.co.uk/opragen/〉.