The Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) today published two compliance reports on Denmark assessing progress made in the implementation of the recommendations contained in its 2014 evaluation report on “Preventing corruption in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors” and the 2019 report on “Preventing corruption and promoting integrity in central governments (persons entrusted with top executive functions) and law enforcement agencies.
GRECO concludes that there has been no progress in Denmark’s level of implementation of the four recommendations concerning members of parliament contained in the Fourth Round Evaluation report from 2014. Out of six recommendations in total, only two have been implemented satisfactorily (concerning judges and prosecutors). GRECO regrets that the outstanding recommendations regarding MPs remain unresolved. A Code of Conduct for members of parliament must be issued and coupled with counselling, awareness-raising, and supervision measures. The public registration system of occupations and financial interests of MPs needs to be further developed.
In view of the very low level of compliance with the recommendations, GRECO:
- invites the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to send a letter – with a copy to the Head of delegation of Denmark – to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, drawing the attention to non-compliance since 2018 with the relevant recommendations and the need to take determined action with a view to achieving tangible progress as soon as possible.
- recalls that the authorities will receive a high-level mission with a view to reinforcing the importance of complying with the outstanding recommendations.
- asks the Head of the Danish delegation to provide a report on the progress made in implementing recommendations by 30 November 2025 at the latest.
Concerning the second compliance of the Fifth Round Evaluation report from 2019 on “Preventing corruption and promoting integrity in central governments (persons entrusted with top executive functions) and law enforcement agencies”, GRECO concludes that Denmark has implemented satisfactorily only two of the fourteen recommendations. Of the remaining recommendations, one remains been partly implemented and eleven remain not implemented.
With respect to top executive functions, GRECO concludes that “no progress has been made on any of the recommendations.” The only positive step is the announced establishment of an expert committee to prepare proposals for a new Access to Public Administration Files Act. However, this process is still at a very early stage.
GRECO also notes that an analysis of integrity-related risks involving members of the government and special advisers as a basis for a future integrity strategy is still lacking and there is still no code of conduct for persons with top executive functions. The transparency of lobbying needs to be increased and rules introduced on how to deal with the employment of persons with top executive functions following the termination of their public service.
In addition, GRECO reiterates that more data must be included in the financial declarations of ministers and these declarations must be subject to substantive control. GRECO deeply regrets Denmark’s plainly expressed refusal to implement these recommendations.
As far as law enforcement agencies (police) is concerned, GRECO notes that no new measures or information are reported in respect of improving the system of authorising secondary activities, conducting a study on the employment of staff once they leave the police, analysing the need for introducing a requirement for certain officials to declare financial interests and raising the awareness of staff on their duty to report corruption-related misconduct.
GRECO concludes that Denmark is not in sufficient compliance with the recommendations contained in the Fifth Round Evaluation Report and therefore decides to:
- apply Rule 32 revised (non-compliance measures) and asks the Head of delegation of Denmark to provide a report on the progress in implementing the outstanding recommendations by 31 December 2024.
- invite the President of the Statutory Committee to send a letter – with a copy to the Head of delegation of Denmark – to the Permanent Representative of Denmark to the Council of Europe, drawing attention to the non-compliance with the relevant recommendations and the need to take determined action with a view to achieving tangible progress as soon as possible.
- request the authorities to receive a high-level mission with a view to reinforcing the importance of complying with the relevant recommendations.
Links to the reports:
