The CoE conference on public ethics which took place on 15 March in Athens was jointly organised by the Centre of Expertise and the Body of Inspectors Auditors of Public Administration, with the support of the Regional Development Institute of the Panteion University.
High representatives of the Hellenic Parliament, the Government, Council of Europe, European Union, OECD and other international and national stakeholders gathered to exchange on trends and challenges in the field of corruption prevention.
As said by the Minister of Justice, Mr Stavros Kontonis, "corruption and clientelism affect the heart of our democracy: the participation of citizens". This view was shared by Deputy President of the Parliament Ms Anastasia Christodoulopoulou and the Minister of Administrative Reconstruction Ms Olga Gerovassili, who reiterated that corruption poisons the relation of trust between citizens and public institutions.
Soft law, preventive measures and benchmarking actions can bring about a change of attitude towards corruption, increasing transparency and public ethics at all levels.
During the Conference, the Centre presented the outcomes of the corruption risk assessment and the self-evaluation process undertaken by 19 pilot municipalities in the framework of the Public Ethics Benchmarking activity. Furthermore, key recommendations to Greece of GRECO and OECD findings on corruption perception across Europe were discussed.
