The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body (GRECO) will organise a conference on 17 June to mark its 20th anniversary. Held under the auspices of the French Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, the event will discuss GRECO’s achievements in assisting states to improve their capacity to prevent and combat corruption, assess current challenges and anticipate emerging issues. Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland, French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet and President of the Parliamentary Assembly Liliane Maury Pasquier will open the event together with Thea Tsulukiani, Minister of Justice of Georgia, Etilda Gjonaj, Minister of Justice of Albania, Laurent Anselmi, Minister of Justice of Monaco, and Marin Mrčela, President of GRECO. Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Commission, will deliver a speech.
Following the conference, GRECO will hold a plenary meeting to discuss evaluation reports on the prevention of corruption in respect of central governments, including top executive functions, and law enforcement on Denmark, Spain and Slovakia. On the agenda there are also compliance reports – concerning various evaluation rounds - on Switzerland, Denmark, Russia, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Lithuania, Malta, Iceland and Romania (including the follow-up to Romania’s ad hoc evaluation). GRECO will also discuss a proposal to carry out an urgent ad hoc evaluation of Greece. Finally, GRECO will decide on a request by the European Union to have observer status.