Public Perceptions of Corruption in Balkans Continue to Worsen: Report
Source: Balkan Insight
Students hold a banner with the slogan “Accountability” during a protest march in Belgrade, January 24 2025. Photo: BIRN.
People in the Balkans believe that the fight against corruption has taken a downturn this year, except in Kosovo and Albania, watchdog organisation Transparency International said on Tuesday, presenting its latest global Corruption Perceptions Index, CPI.
The worst-ranked among all Balkan countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was ranked in 114th place out of 180 countries worldwide, with a score of 33. The CPI Index awards each state a score between 0 and 100, ranging from “highly corrupted” to “very clean”.
Lidija Prokic, Transparency’s regional coordinator for Eastern and South East Europe, said Bosnia had reached its lowest score since 2012. “The reason for this further drop in score is that we still do not see that systemic corruption problems are addressed. Some cornerstones of a successful fight against corruption are missing in Bosnia,” Prokic told BIRN.
As one example, Prokic listed laws regulating conflicts of interest, which do not exist in some parts of Bosnia and have discrepancies in how they are implemented in others.
Next in line were were Turkey, which ranked 107th with a score of 34, and Serbia, which ranked equal 105th with a score of 35, marking a continuation of their decline in the Index.
The report noted that in Serbia, “the government’s denial of responsibility for the collapse of a roof in the newly renovated Novi Sad railway station that killed 15 people sparked massive protests across the country, demanding accountability and putting government corruption in focus.”
Prokic said the Novi Sad disaster was part of a systemic problem in Serbia, where contracts from direct negotiations are often not publicly available.
“Another thing is that the documents [on the station’s renovation] were not released in a timely way. Then, even when we heard that the documents are there and there was a proper response from the institutions, the documents kept coming – which already meant that initially not everything was released,” Prokic said.
She added that the difference between the estimated cost of the station’s renovation, 3.5 million euros, and 16 million euros – the end price – was deeply concerning.
Next after Serbia came North Macedonia, which declined in both score and rank from last year, with a score of 40 and 88th place.
Albania and Moldova were highlighted this year as seeing improvements in the strength of their judiciaries.
Albania, improving its results from last year, ranked 80th (score of 42). Improved trust levels in the country were mostly in the Special Prosecution Office, according to Prokic. However, she said initial investigations and processes in the country are still not good enough.
“We need to wait a bit longer to see that this really becomes a wider trend and to see more convictions, but there is also a need for greater support by the authorities for independent prosecutors, because there are still a lot of attacks on them from different interest groups who are using the media that are close to them, and that is of concern,” she told BIRN.
Moldova kept the same rank but improved its score from last year, “after the establishment of a specialised anticorruption court and broader judicial reform efforts under President Maia Sandu”, the report said.
Kosovo ranked 73rd (score of 44), meaning it improved both its rank and points from last year. Montenegro, which is still ranked first in the Western Balkans, in 65th place, actually declined in its performance.
Worrying corruption in EU member countries
In terms of the European Union, Transparency warned that “weak transparency and accountability in government procurement, including those involving EU funds, remain a major concern, opening doors for bribery and eroding citizen trust in public service delivery”.
The report mentioned Croatia, which ranked in 63rd place (score of 47), and the case of former health minister, Vili Beros, who was “fired over suspicions he accepted bribes in exchange for the approval of procurement of robotic medical equipment from a specific company at inflated prices for several public hospitals”.
Bulgaria was ranked in the 76th spot (score of 43), while Romania was in 65th place (score of 46). Greece was ranked 59th (score of 49), while Slovenia ranked 36th (score of 60), the best of all the Balkan countries.
TI noted that in Hungary, “Prime Minister Victor Orban’s 15-year-long rule has been marked by systemic corruption and a continuous decline of the rule of law in Hungary, whose CPI score has dropped 14 points since 2012”. It wasranked in 82nd place (score of 41), behind many Balkan countries.
“Even the withholding of €20 billion in EU funds has failed to compel the Orban-regime to restore rule of law and democracy,” the report noted.
When it comes to Slovakia, which ranked 59th (score of 49), TI warned that “In one year under Robert Fico’s government, Slovakia’s score has sharply declined as numerous reforms erode anti-corruption checks and bypass public consultation.
“Political appointments, bypassing of standard legislative procedures and the government’s undermining of independent institutions and media, along with attacks against NGOs through Russian-style ‘foreign agent’ narratives, have sparked significant backlash from citizens and civil society,” TI said.
In the Czech Republic, which ranked 46th (score of 56) according to TI, “the Antimonopoly Office Chairman’s unchecked power and insufficient transparency expose public procurements to undue influence”.
The top-ranking countries remain almost unchanged from last year: Denmark, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden, with Luxemburg as a newcomer, instead of The Netherlands.
At the bottom end of the global scale were Yemen, Syria, Venezuela, Somalia and South Sudan.
The original article: belongs to Balkan Insight .
