Political corruption

Spurred into action by a major corruption scandal, the European Parliament president wants to prevent former lawmakers from lobbying on behalf of businesses or governments soon after they leave office and to make public the names of current members who break assembly rules, a parliamentary official said Wednesday.

Bulgaria has improved its results on the rule of law, moving up two positions to 60th from last year's 62nd place among 140 countries, according to the Rule of Law Index (RLI) of The World Justice Project (WJP) for 2022. Bulgaria country has 55 points (1 more than last year) out of 100 possible.

Sports should be recognized as a human right, Sports and Youth Minister Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu has said, pointing out Türkiye's ongoing international fight against corruption in sports.

The Bulgarian government will allocate BGN 20 million for a one-time aid for heating, announced acting Prime Minister Galab Donev. The decision is expected to be taken at the cabinet meeting that has already started, at which a number of legislative texts related to the commitments to receive the second tranche of funds under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan will be voted on.

During the debate, '(Anti)Corruption in Focus', organised by Bosnian BIRN and Transparency International in Sarajevo, members of eight political parties presented their anti-corruption strategies.

Ljubljana – The 26th Ljubljana Marathon will coincide with the presidential election on 23 October after the organisers of the biggest such event in the country declined the appeal by the National Electoral Commission to consider changing the date to let voters access polling stations without disruption.

Both understand that bad moves at the local level are more tolerable to the West than those at the regional level, as long as you play nice with the neighbours; both rule their countries with an iron fist - Vucic overtly, Rama's hidden behind a velvet glove.

The heir and de facto leader of Samsung group received a presidential pardon on Aug. 12, the latest example of South Korea's long tradition of freeing business leaders convicted of corruption on economic grounds.    

EU expert Andi Hoxhaj tells BIRN that besides the usual governance-related issues, the 'crony capitalism' of its economy might delay Albania's EU integration.

The European Commission presented today the second annual report on the rule of law in the EU, this time making recommendations to individual countries. The EC recommends that the anti-corruption commission take consistent action to reach final verdicts in cases where senior officials are held accountable.