Regional Meeting on Corruption Kicks Off

The conference will address corruption issues and anti-corruption measures in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia.

According to the RCC web site, the study aims at "identifying the perception of judges, prosecutors, and police officers dealing with high level corruption in order to assess the independence and efficacy of the criminal judicial system by highlighting the causes and methods of obstruction in the pre-trial and criminal trial phases of high level corruption cases." 

The groups aim to push for the adoption of legislative anti-corruption measures that would bring the region up to European and international standards in this area.

The gathering is taking place in cooperation with the Romanian Chamber of Deputies and the Ministry of Justice, as well as the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Corruption in southeast Europe continues to plague the region, with the issue regularly mentioned as one of the major problems affecting Southeast European countries.

In its 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International noted that corruption remains a serious challenge for the region.

Notably, the newest EU member states Romania and Bulgaria were placed lower than EU candidate countries Croatia and Turkey. Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina was the lowest ranked country in the region, with the report referencing various corruption scandals and lack of implementation and enforcement of anti-corruption measures as contributors to its low score.

The report did note that the prospect of EU integration remained a powerful tool to motivate candidate and potential candidate countries to crack down on corruption.

Speakers at this week's regional conference include the Romanian and Moldovan ministers of justice;  the Secretary General of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Security, Bakir Dautbasic; the Executive Director of TI Romania, Victor Alistar; and Erhard Busek, President of the EU-Russia Centre and Former Special Coordinator of Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, as the opening session moderator.