According to the RAND Corporation, corruption in Europe comes with a price tag of nearly
a trillion euros every year.
Three quarters of Europeans surveyed in 2013 said that corruption in the continent was
widespread and many of them said it was increasing.
So we wanted to know, what is the most corrupt country
in Europe?
Well, ranked at number 130, out of a worldwide 168, and alongside countries such as Cameroon,
Iran, and Nepal, the most corrupt country in Europe appears to be Ukraine.
With a score of just 27 out of 100, Ukraine has long been one of the least transparent
states in the region, even ranking two full points below neighboring Russia.
One of the biggest sources of corruption is bribery, which is most often used in day-to-day
interactions to speed up the very inefficient government bureaucracy.
A 2008 survey found that the highest rates of corruption occurred in vehicle inspections,
police interactions, health care, the court system, and higher education such as universities.
This culture of bribery is so deeply ingrained that former President, Viktor Yanukovych,
allegedly paid a total of $2 billion dollars in bribes to various officials just over the
course of his four years in office.
Much of this money was spent paying election officials to ensure his party’s majority
in Parliament.
According to one Ukrainian anti-corruption advisor, more than $12 billion dollars a year
disappears from the budget
In fact, Ukraine’s elections have long been marked by well-known and widespread fraud.
In the 2004 election, multiple foreign observers noted voter intimidation and direct electoral
fraud in favor of Yanukovych, prompting countrywide riots known as the “Orange Revolution”.
In the face of these riots, the Ukrainian Supreme Court nullified the results of the
election and ordered a second vote to be taken, which Yanukovych’s opponent ultimately won.
Another area of corruption is Ukraine’s court system, which unlike most developed
countries, does not, in practice, operate under a separation of powers.
Judges are regularly pressured by high ranking government officials to vote in their favor,
or to pass down lenient sentences to their associates.
And despite an anti-corruption push in 2010, leading to hundreds of criminal cases against
active officials, very few were ultimately prosecuted.
A 2009 poll found that fewer than one in three Ukrainians believed it is possible to get
a fair trial.
Ukraine has an enormous number of problems, from widespread alcoholism, to a deeply insufficient
health care system, failing infrastructure, and as of 2016, seemingly no reduction in
corruption.
WikiLeaks revealed that the US considered the country a “kleptocracy”, that is,
government by thieves.
Ukraine’s newest President, Petro Poroshenko, is an oligarch and businessman, who is known
as the Chocolate King for his ownership of the largest confectionery manufacturer in
the country.
Despite his promises to crack down on corruption, many believe that Ukraine will continue to
be the most corrupt country in Europe.
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