About the activity

The Centre of Expertise conducted the Public Ethics Benchmarking activity from September 2017 to March 2018 with the support of the Regional Development Institute.

Greece was the first country to pilot the corruption risk analysis included in the 2017 updated Public Ethics Benchmarks toolkit.

 Methodology

This complex activity was composed of four main steps:

1.  Selection of three municipalities to conduct a risk analysis

The goal of the risk analysis was not to focus on individual corrupted behaviours and detect corruption as such, but rather to assess the risk that these might materialise. Consequently, risk analysis was carried out as a prevention tool, to identify and avoid potential negative circumstances. More precisely, the two pilot municipalities (Larissa and Skyros) were assisted by the Centre of Expertise to assess possible risks in the provision of targeted services. To do so, a number of administrative procedures were described in standard form (See Service Cards developed by Larissa and Skyros). Pilot municipalities had the opportunity to analyse their internal procedures and identify possible corruption risks. This process enabled participating municipalities to systematise the work of civil servants, making better use of human resources. Moreover, the introduction of service cards increased transparency and minimised the impact of subjective factors on administrative processes carried out at the office. The assessment of the likelihood of corruption risks and of the consequences of a materialised corruption risk was therefore parameterised and assessed through Risk Assessment Cards provided by the Centre of Expertise.

2. Adaptation of CoE benchmarks on public ethics to Greece

The results of the corruption risk analysis fed into the adaptation of the standard Council of Europe benchmark on public ethics to the Greek context. In-depth interviews and focus groups were organised for this scope.

3. Selection of up to fifteen municipalities to implement the Greek benchmarks

Nineteen municipalities participated in the benchmarking process. The Greek National Benchmark aimed at identifying a national level of public ethics against which local authorities can compare themselves.

4. Organisation of a Conference/Peer review in Greece

Pilot municipalities had the opportunity to share their knowledge of and experiences on public ethics with other Greek and international stakeholders during the Conference held on 15 March 2018 in Athens. Results of the risk analysis and the benchmarking process are presented in the final report.