CoE calls on Greece to toughen anti-corruption law for public officials

Greece needs to take tougher stance against bribery offenses involving state officials, the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report published on Wednesday.

The 47-member Council of Europe and the OECD had been critical in June this year of the Greek Parliament, after it had downgraded bribery of public officials from a felony offence to a misdemeanour, thus introducing more lenient criminal sanctions for such crimes, GRECO said.

After strong criticism by the group, the government reintroduced, to some extent, tougher penalties for the bribery offenses in November. However, GRECO added, the changes do not go far enough.

"The June downgrading will have long standing retroactive consequences in Greece in respect of corruption offences committed by public...