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- Ελληνικά
In view of today's International Anti-Corruption Day, the Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Ms Irene Charalambidou, issued the following statement in her capacity as the Assembly's Special Representative on Anti-Corruption:
"Corruption is a serious threat to democracy, development and security. It undermines democratic institutions and the rule of law, erodes citizens' trust in institutions, their well-being and equality.
Corruption is facilitated by a lack of transparency, accountability and integrity in public institutions. Therefore, to prevent and combat it, we must promote a multi-faceted approach that includes strengthening transparency and accountability mechanisms, having adequate institutional safeguards, adopting and continuously updating the legislative framework to protect public interest whistleblowers, freedom of access to information, and expanding open data initiatives. We also need to protect and strengthen investigative journalism and civil society. In this effort, synergies with international organisations active in this area are both valuable and necessary.
As Members of Parliaments, we must exercise our parliamentary scrutiny powers to the fullest extent to ensure effective accountability of other institutions. At the same time, we have an obligation to ensure our own accountability and the accountability of our political parties.
The OSCE CSO must ensure that the fight against corruption remains at the top of our priorities. Our efforts to strengthen cooperation and synergies with international bodies working to prevent and combat corruption, as well as the adoption of a binding Code of Conduct for all OSCE CSO Members, must be further intensified.
On this International Anti-Corruption Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to preventing and fighting corruption at all levels."
(Text as sent from the House of Representatives)
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