Corruption is an ubiquitous and perennial phenomenon.

It might be said without running a high risk of exaggeration, that corruption runs throughout human political history. It finds the most fruitful grounds in situations in which there are unfettered discretionary decision-making powers without adequate political, ethical and legal frameworks and measures to ensure accountability and transparency. It is very much linked to public office and authority discretion to decide on allocation of resources and/or issuance of public acts and documents enabling the management of both public and private affairs. "The concept of corruption has become multifaceted. It not only is the sine qua non of sustained organised crime and money laundering but also taints "civil" relations as in the case of "facilitation payments" to get things done." While the concept of corruption includes a number of transactions ranging from "simple bribery" of and by public officials through the abuse of office, to business corruption, as well as different criteria for defining corruption (e.g. public interest; public opinion; market perspective) the most diffused is corruption related to public officials. Although it is quite difficult to discern the magnitude of corruption, Woltring and Shinkai (1996) list and briefly discuss a number of approaches which can be used to grasp the current situation of corruption. Due to its involving a "clandestine and confidential" relationship it is no surprise that only a small portion of corruption is known and then reacted upon. More often than not corruption is either a process of transactions and thus of a certain duration for the parties involved, or an individual corrupt transaction in a wider transactional context in which some transactions are illegal and others perfectly legal. In addition, some societies may be more tolerant towards corruption of public officials which is often considered and justified as being part of traditional folklore in the relationship between public officials and citizens. Bribery statistics do not differentiate among different degrees of gravity of corruption and therefore an analyst might end up comparing small-scale street level corruption with cases involving huge amounts of money and services. In other words, the utility of official criminal justice statistics on bribery for international comparison is rather meager. This is not to say that other sources of information on corruption and comparison on an international level do not face similar and some additional problems, the major one being that they do not rely on official legal definitions of corruption. Much of street level corruption is a problem of public administration organisation and culture. It appears that, particularly in a number of developing countries and countries in transition, further efforts are needed in order to improve the social status of, and compensation for, public officials, thus making them less "vulnerable" to the challenges of bribery. Reforms are also needed in terms of facilitating and making more transparent both the decision-making process as well as interaction with citizens. Business sector is also vulnerable to corruption, which obviously includes public administration, business, criminal organizations and citizens. Corruption is a process and its prevention requires co-operation between the citizens, public administration and business.

Public ethics are a keystone of good governance. Over the last decade, post-communist societies have faced multiple challenges due to their profound transformations following the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy: the rearrangement of economies, the construction, or reestablishment of public institutions, and the realignment to the international environment. In addition to these trials, widespread corruption has proven to be another major concern for these new democracies. Corruption constrains development and reforms: Development potentials go unutilized, public funds are wasted, and processes of democratic consolidation are jeopardized.

It is now generally accepted that the phenomenon of corruption cannot be reduced only by repressive means. Legal and law enforcement measures need to be complemented by the involvement of the public as well as by measures to prevent corruption within public administration. Special efforts are required in the field of prevention of corruption in countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in particular with regard to reducing risks and opportunities of corruption within public administration. At the same time, capacities to design and implement such prevention measures are limited. Public administration training institutions and more generally higher education institutions could make in impact in this respect by including corruption prevention issues in their curricula.

Corruption and bribery thrive on systemic weaknesses. Efforts to prevent corruption aim at eliminating these weaknesses and enhancing integrity and transparency. This goal is common to corruption prevention in the key sectors public administrations, thepolitical sphere and the business sector. The means of putting this objective into practice, however, differ among these sectors, due to the variety of regulatory frameworks and operational environments. Despite large differences in the problems prevalent in the various countries and the existing remedies, recent efforts to prevent corruption target similar areas across the region. Most countries that have endorsed the Anti-Corruption Action Plan, for example, attribute an important role to administrative reform. The various strategies to prevent corruption address integrity, effective procedures and transparent rules. Corruption in the political sphere attracts growing attention in more and more countries covered by this report. The demand for the accountability of political leaders and the transparency of political parties has begun to trigger reform in those areas. Private business has also become a focus of anti-corruption reform: besides being object of state oversight, this sector has started its own initiatives to curb corruption. Prevention of corruption in the public service ranks high on many countries reform agendas. So far, varying levels of effort and achievement have taken place. Reforms aim at ensuring the competence and integrity of public officials as individuals. Administrative rules and procedures and the overall management and oversight of public administration are also under review, with a particular focus on the reform of public procurement. Corruption prevention in the political sphere also seems to draw growing attention these days. Due to the special status of elected officials and the different regulations to which they are consequently subject, however, these measures are dealt with in a separate section of this report (see section B below). I. Integrity and competence of public officials The integrity and competence of public officials are fundamental prerequisites for a reliable and efficient public administration. Many countries in the region and beyond have thus adopted measures that aim to ensure integrity in the hiring and promoting of staff, provide adequate remuneration and set and implement clear rules of conduct for public officials. 1. Hiring and promotion of public officials Openness, equal opportunity and transparency in hiring and promoting public officials are essential to ensure an honest, competent and independent public service. Corrupt practices in this crucial process take many forms: for example, nepotism and cronyism the use of public power to obtain a favor for a family member or other affiliate are common in a number of countries. Unclear eligibility criteria and insufficient publication of vacant positions make it difficult to attract talented candidates to the public service. Defining the criteria, procedures and institutional framework by law is an essential precondition for transparent and fair selection and promotion procedures. Most if not all

countries subject to this survey have enacted such laws. These usually prescribe the advertisement of vacant positions in the press or other media. Conflicts of interest regarding the exercise of economic or political activities Three different schemes are applied to avoid or manage conflict of interest. One relies on transparency, another on incompatibility, and the third combines both these principles. Systems of transparency require the involved official to disclose conflicting interests; if a side activity creates the conflict, authorization may be required. Systems of incompatibility prohibit activities that typically breed a conflict of interest. Many conflict-of-interest regulations address public officials engagement in political or economic activities. Regulations concerning gifts and hospitality Gifts or hospitality are sometimes abused to camouflage corruption and are prone to generate conflicts of interest. Thus, most countries codes of conduct prohibit or restrict the acceptance of gifts and hospitality.