Transparency

Overpowering influence of political figures, usually close to business or organized crime, remains the main problem in dealing with corruption in the Balkans, Transparency International's Project Manager and former Regional Advisor for Southeast Europe, Cornelia Abel, said.

Facebook, in a bow to transparency, has announced plans to declare certain ad revenues in the country where they are made and not in Ireland, where it has a greater tax advantage.

BELGRADE - Digitisation of the state administration and providing services the citizens will be able to use quickly and simply is one of my priorities, Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said after the government decided on Thursday to set up an IT and e-government office.

The Greek media landscape has entered a period of tumultuous changes and realignments that will have an impact for years to come.

However, the government does not seem to have learned from the mistakes of others where the results were nothing short of tragic, even though this is such an important area.

The European Commission declined on Thursday to comment on claims that it has "silently postponed" a regular anti-corruption report against the background of large-scale protests against the amendments to the Penal Code in Romania, reported the online edition of EuroActiv, cited by Focus agency.

The decision caused criticisms on the part of activists for transparency.

Greece's anti-corruption agency has dismissed Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, published last week, which said that the country's performance in 2016 worsened, falling to 69th place out of 167 countries, from 58th in 2015.

Turkey has ranked 75th in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2016, falling nine places from 2015 and adding to its dramatic decline over the past four years.

According to the results, Turkey scored 41 in the index, a one-point decrease from 42 in 2015. It shared the 75th rank with Bulgaria, Kuwait and Tunisia, decreasing from its 66th rank in 2015.

Bulgaria has ranked 75th in the world in terms of corruption perception and is singled out as the EU state perceived as "most corrupt" by its citizens in the latest Transparency International ranking.

Transparency International on Wednesday published its annual global report on perceived corruption in society, indicating that governments in Balkan states have a lot of work to do to eradicate graft, with Macedonia singled out as one of the countries in which the situation has significantly worsened over the year.

According to International Transparency’s Corruption Perception Index, Greece dropped 11 spots on the list of countries seen as corrupt in 2016 compared to 2015. Greece fell to 69th spot from 58 in 2015, according to Greek newspaper Kathimerini.