| Parliamentary Assembly Assembl�e parlementaire |
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Poverty and fight against corruption in the Council of Europe member states
Doc. 10085
12 February 2004
Motion for a recommendation
presented by Mrs Belohorsk� and others
This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it
The fight against the corruption is not only a moral issue but also an efficient tool in the fight against poverty in the member states of the Council of Europe. Recent studies have shown a direct connection between the disastrous consequences of corruption and the persistence of social problems such as low level of social protection, mass unemployment and social exclusion.
According to a recent study of the World Bank “if a poor country with a high level of corruption manages to reduce corruption to a median level, it will enjoy a 400 percent improvement in its per capita income”. It is evident that the impact of corruption is much more substantial on a poor country where the scarce resources are misappropriated and diverted from economic development.
In this context, the Parliamentary Assembly recalls the Conference on “The role of Parliaments fighting corruption”, organised jointly by the Parliamentary Assembly and the World Bank in March 1999 and its Resolution 1214 (2000).
The Parliamentary Assembly is deeply concerned that during the last decade the corruption level has continuously increased in many ‘transition economies’ of the Council of Europe member countries. In some member countries of the Council of Europe, corruption has become a dangerous phenomenon: it contributes widely to the poverty of a large segment of the population and thus threatening social cohesion and democratic stability.
It would therefore be imperative to assess the interplay between the level of corruption and poverty. Such analysis should serve as a basis for assistance programmes and regional projects. At the same time, it would be essential to identify ‘good governance’ of member states of the Council of Europe in that field and disseminate these practices as widely as possible.
Signed
[1]:
Belohorsk�, Slovakia, EDG
Bargholtz, Sweden, LDR
Cliveti, Romania, SOC
Daban Alsina, Andorra, LDR
Hancock, United Kingdom, LDR
Kocharyan, Armenia, LDR
Kovalev, Russia, EDG
Kox, Netherlands, NR
Mašt�lka, CzechRepublic, UEL
Sysas, Lithuania, SOC
Topalli, Albania, EPP/CD
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SOC |
Socialist Group |