No time like the present to fight corruption: Innovative practice for a wicked development problem
Authors
Corruption seriously undermines development and hits the most vulnerable hardest. But it is a multifaceted, wicked problem: one that resists simple solutions and conceptualisations. In this paper, ECDPM’s Martin Ronceray and Katja Sergejeff review new evidence on how anti-corruption can be conducted, how the EU has been performing in this area and what should be done next to improve Europe’s overall footprint.
Summary
In her last State of the Union address, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called on Europe to clean up its act on corruption internally, or risk losing its credibility as a promoter of the rule of law internationally.
These words, pronounced in the context of the war in Ukraine, resonate all the more since shortly afterwards the EU was shaken by its largest corruption scandal of the century. Corruption seriously undermines development and hits the most vulnerable hardest. But it is a multifaceted, wicked problem: one that resists simple solutions and even simple conceptualisations, and one that calls for modesty, trial-and-error and soul-searching. This paper reviews new evidence on how anti-corruption can be conducted, how the EU has been performing in this area and what should be done next to improve Europe’s overall footprint.
Credible, cross-cutting international efforts to tackle corruption as a development obstacle – by looking both outward with projects and programmes, and inward by addressing one’s own deficiencies and policy coherence – do matter. The EU and the wider ‘Team Europe’ have roles to play in this field, many of which are yet unfulfilled. To seize the window of opportunity in 2023 to overhaul Europe’s fragmented, outdated and overall timid approach, the first priorities are giving it a proper policy framework and tapping into existing forces to mobilise new ones.
Event
The paper was presented at the working group on development cooperation of the Council of the EU, chaired by the Swedish presidency.
Our policy officers Martin Ronceray and Katja Sergejeff ahead of their presentation
On 3 March 11:30-13:30, the Swedish presidency hosted a public lunch seminar on 'Tackling corruption as an obstacle to development as Team Europe' where the authors highlighted their findings. See the full programme here.
