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Fourth Round Evaluation Report F O U R T Adoption: 19 June 2015 Public H Publication: 22 October 2015 Greco Eval IV Rep (2014) 9E E V FOURTH EVALUATION ROUND A L Corruption prevention in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors U A T I O EVALUATION REPORT N GREECE R O Adopted by GRECO at its 68th Plenary Meeting (Strasbourg, 15-19 June 2015) U N GRECO Secretariat Directorate General I D Council of Europe Human Rights and Rule of Law www.coe.int/greco F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex Information Society and Action +33 3 88 41 20 00 against Crime Directorate TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 3 I. INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 4 II. CONTEXT .................................................................................................................................................. 6 III. CORRUPTION PREVENTION IN RESPECT OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT .................................................. 9 OVERVIEW OF THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM ................................................................................................................. 9 TRANSPARENCY OF THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS ............................................................................................................. 10 REMUNERATION, ECONOMIC BENEFITS AND PARLIAMENTARY RESOURCES ......................................................................... 12 ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND RULES OF CONDUCT .............................................................................................................. 14 CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS ........................................................................................................................................ 15 PROHIBITION OR RESTRICTION OF CERTAIN ACTIVITIES ................................................................................................... 15 Gifts, donations and other benefits ............................................................................................................. 15 Incompatibilities and accessory activities .................................................................................................... 16 Employment after cessation of functions .................................................................................................... 18 Contracts concluded with the public authorities ......................................................................................... 16 Misuse of public funds ................................................................................................................................. 19 Misuse of confidential information; contacts with third parties ................................................................. 20 DECLARATION OF ASSETS, INCOME, LIABILITIES AND FINANCIAL INTERESTS ......................................................................... 20 SUPERVISION AND ENFORCEMENT MEASURES.............................................................................................................. 22 ADVICE, TRAINING AND AWARENESS ......................................................................................................................... 31 IV. CORRUPTION PREVENTION IN RESPECT OF JUDGES ............................................................................... 32 OVERVIEW OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM............................................................................................................................ 32 THE PRINCIPLE OF INDEPENDENCE ............................................................................................................................... 35 RECRUITMENT, CAREER AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE ...................................................................................................... 36 CASE MANAGEMENT AND PROCEDURE ......................................................................................................................... 38 ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT............................................................................................. 41 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST; DECLARATION OF ASSETS, INCOME, LIABILITY AND INTEREST .............................................................. 41 CHALLENGE OR WITHDRAWAL ................................................................................................................................... 41 PROHIBITION OR RESTRICTION OF CERTAIN ACTIVITIES ...................................................................................................... 42 Incompatibilities and accessory activities .................................................................................................... 42 Gifts ............................................................................................................................................................. 42 Post-employment restrictions ...................................................................................................................... 42 Contacts with third parties, confidential information ................................................................................. 43 SUPERVISION AND ENFORCEMENT .............................................................................................................................. 43 ADVICE, TRAINING AND AWARENESS ........................................................................................................................... 47 V. CORRUPTION PREVENTION IN RESPECT OF PROSECUTORS .................................................................... 48 RECRUITMENT, CAREERS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE .................................................................................................... 49 CASE MANAGEMENT AND PROCEDURE ......................................................................................................................... 49 ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND RULES OF CONDUCT ................................................................................................................ 50 CHALLENGE OR WITHDRAWAL ................................................................................................................................... 50 PROHIBITION OR RESTRICTION OF CERTAIN ACTIVITIES ...................................................................................................... 50 Incompatibilities and accessory activities; Restrictions applicable after prosecutors have left office ........ 50 Contacts with third parties, confidential information ................................................................................. 50 CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS; DECLARATIONS OF ASSETS, INCOME, LIABILITIES AND INTERESTS ........................................................ 51 ADVICE, TRAINING AND AWARENESS ........................................................................................................................... 51 VI. RECOMMENDATIONS AND FOLLOW-UP ................................................................................................. 52 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Corruption is now considered as one of the problems which have driven Greece into the current financial crisis. Greece thus adopted in 2013/2014 an anti-corruption strategy and an action plan. The perception of corruption remains at high levels although some positive trends can be observed in recent years according to the indexes published by Transparency International. Politicians at national and regional/local level are perceived by a large proportion of the population as particularly affected by certain forms of corruption. To a lower extent, this concerns also the judicial institutions whilst at the same time, the courts are among the institutions which are generally trusted by Greek citizens. Controversies have been triggered by incidents of legislative and institutional manipulation exempting from their liability the authors of illegal acts: this was facilitated by the complexity of legislation, insufficient transparency of the legislative process, a lack of appropriate controls and other factors. 2. Greece is at an early stage of integrity-related policies for parliamentarians. There is no code of conduct as yet and rules are missing in respect of a variety of areas such as: the management of punctual conflicts of interests; circumstances in which gifts, hospitality and other benefits can be accepted; how to prevent the misuse of information; contacts with third parties and lobbyists; awareness-raising, training and/or advice on integrity-related matters. The main positive measure taken to date was the introduction in 2003 of a system for the declaration of income and assets, applicable also to interests as from 2015. The supervision exerted so far by the Parliament itself has not been effective. As from 2015, a new independent body – the Committee for the Investigation of Declarations of Assets, CIDA is taking over the control of declarations. It was provided with guarantees of independence and it is important that it fulfils its duties in an effective and pro-active manner. Improvements in these various areas will not achieve their overall goal if more fundamental issues are not addressed in parallel. Greece needs to provide for adequate scrutiny when legislation is in the drafting/adoption stage and to adopt rules on additional forms of support provided to parliamentarians from outside parliament,
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