EU's Anti-Corruption Group Says Greece Falling Back in Bribery Fight

The Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) said Greece's New Democracy government failed to strengthen anti-corruption laws diluted by the former ruling SYRIZA. The Radical Left group had introduced softer sanctions on bribery involving public officials.

In its last days before being ousted in July 7, 2019 snap elections, the leftists reduced penalties for a number of major crimes, including bribery, changed from felonies to misdemeanors in a country that has repeatedly seen scandals involving defense contracts, a former defense chief jailed.

New Democracy, which took power on a platform that included vowing to undo what it said was SYRIZA's leniency against criminal acts had been slow to make changes, however, despite pressure from GRECO.

The agency made four recommendations after former premier Alexis Tsipras moved in June 2019 to amend the country’s Criminal Code, downgrading the criminal classifications for bribery cases that involve public officials.

New Democracy restored the classification of major financial crimes to felonies in November, 2019 but in a way that didn't meet GRECO's benchmark as it was still soft on bribery.

GRECO said none of its recommendations had been implemented, the newspaper New Europe reported as it allows prosecutors to recuse themselves in bribery cases, even for relatively lesser crimes.

The Greek government was told it must fully criminalize bribery, especially when it concerns foreign public servants, judges and other members of the judiciary, in line with the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption.

GRECO said, however in December, 2019 it was satisfied that the government excluded a measure that would let the Justice Minister suspend criminal proceedings harmful to international relations involving corruption.

An expert committee has been created in a bid to deal with the recommendations. Greece is set to submit its report to GRECO by late October 2021, the paper said.