Transparency International welcomes the new emphasis on ‘anti-corruption’ in this year's Enlargement Progress Reports

TI welcomes the European Commission’s new emphasis on ‘anti-corruption’ and its overall assessment that only little progress was made in the fight against corruption. The Report highlighted that Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved very little progress in fighting corruption and especially criticized the RS Government’s political pressures on TI BiH, for which the European Commission expressed its serious concerns. The lack of political willingness for the fight against corruption was clearly expressed, which resulted in very little progress in this field.

The European Commission progress reports, which were published on 05 November 2008, are highly critical of all countries that aspire to join the EU. The shortcomings highlighted by the Commission reports echo TI findings in all eight countries.

To prevent a second "Bulgaria" in the future, TI has also strongly encouraged the European Commission to further open the pre-accession process to civil society. This will enable a more participatory and transparent pre-accession process but also give civil society groups a stronger basis for holding governments to account during and after accession.