The Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) has published two follow-up reports assessing Spain’s compliance with its recommendations to prevent corruption regarding the top executive functions of the central government, law enforcement agencies, parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors.
In a compliance report adopted in December 2023, GRECO concluded that Spain had not yet fully implemented any of the recommendations it issued to the country in 2019 to prevent corruption and promote integrity in top executive functions of the central government and the law enforcement agencies (Policía Nacional and Guardia Civil). Of the outstanding recommendations, it had partly implemented 13 recommendations and had not yet implemented six.
Due to the poor implementation of its recommendations, GRECO placed Spain under its 5th evaluation round non-compliance procedure and asked the authorities to report on the progress to comply with them by 31 December 2024. The corresponding follow-up report will be considered by GRECO at its 100th plenary session (Strasbourg, 2-5 June 2025).
The report welcomed the adoption of a holistic integrity framework (SIAGE) for the central administration based on risk assessment, code of ethics, integrity and conflict of interest provisions, training, internal reporting channels, quality management and an evaluation process.
However, GRECO called on the authorities to pay closer attention to the particular situation of top executive functions of the central government (including political advisors) and the specific risk areas of conflicting interests and corruption they face in their work. It found that some elements of the broader integrity reform could cover such risks, but GRECO expected a more tailor-made approach.
In a follow-up report assessing the implementation of the recommendations issued to Spain in 2013 to prevent corruption in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors, GRECO found no progress in the level of compliance since 2022, when the latest follow-up report was adopted. As of June 2024, when the report published today was adopted, Spain had fully implemented seven recommendations and had partly implemented three recommendations. One recommendation concerning the selection system of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) remained not implemented.
This follow-up report terminates the 4th round compliance procedure in respect of Spain (parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors).
The reports have been published at the request of the Spanish authorities in accordance with GRECO’s rules of procedure.
