The Diplomat in Spain

66% of respondents think that corruption is the biggest problem./ Photo: IT

The Diplomat. 20/11/2017

The Global Barometer of Corruption 2017, published on Tuesday by the organization Transparency International (TI), reveals that Spaniards are especially concerned about corruption compared to citizens of other countries, especially those in our environment.

The report, which integrates the five regional barometers on the corruption that IT has done in these last two years, to include data from 119 countries on five continents, reveals that in Spain “still a long way to go” in the fight against this problem, which requires “a stronger and more coordinated attitude of our political parties to combat this social scourge” and an “urgent agreement or state pact against corruption”, said the president of Transparency International Spain, Jesus Lizcano.

According to the Barometer, one in three respondents in Central Asia and Europe believes that corruption is one of the biggest problems in their country, a percentage that in the case of Spain rises to 66% the respondents (similar to that of Kosovars and Moldovans).

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Our country is the most critical in Europe when it comes to the political influence of great fortunes

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Likewise, while in the world as a whole 56% of respondents believe that the policies of their respective governments against corruption are deficient or clearly improvable, in Spain the percentage is much higher and reaches 80% (similar to that of Ukraine and Bosnia & Herzegovina). 28% of Spaniards interviewed perceive that corruption has increased in the country in the last 12 months, while 37% think that everything remains the same.

The report also highlights that more than a quarter of citizens in Europe and Central Asia think that company managers are highly corrupt (26%) and, related to this fact, that the vast majority of respondents believe that large fortunes influence excessively in the decisions of governments.

Thus, while in the group of the richest countries in Europe, two out of every three people think that people with high incomes have too much influence on public policies, in Spain 88% of respondents think so, above Portugal (85), France (79%), Germany and the United Kingdom (both with 77%).