Romania, EU’s Most Corrupted Country-Global Watchdog

Romania is the EU country most affected by corruption, according to the 2007 Global Corruption Barometer published Thursday by the Berlin-based organization Transparency International (TI).

The survey, conducted for TI by Gallup and reflecting the views of over 63,000 respondents in 60 countries, found that 33% of the Romanian respondents had to give bribe in the past year to obtain a service, way above EU’s 5% average.

In the EU classification, Romania is followed by Lithuania, with 29% of the respondents saying they gave bribe in 2007, and Greece – 27%.

Romania is also the only EU member included in the top 10 of the countries with worst corruption rates worldwide, along Albania, Cambodia, Cameroon, Macedonia, Kosovo, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Senegal.

The rise in the number of Romanian respondents who said they had to give bribe in 2007 is “alarming,” an official of TI Romania said.

“It is an increase of nearly 50% in the number of those who say they were forced to pay bribes in 2007 compared to last year,” Victor Alistar said.

He said only 5% of Romanian respondents had to pay a bribe in 2006.

MediaFax