Group of States against Corruption (GRECO): released the 2025 General Activity Report “Anti-corruption trends, challenges and good practices in Europe & the United States of America”
The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) released the 2025 General Activity Report presenting an overview of its key activities and the main developments in corruption prevention across its member states during the year. GRECO was established in 1999 by the Council of Europe to monitor States’ compliance with the organisation’s anti-corruption standards.
The report provides country-by-country data on progress made by member states in implementing GRECO’s recommendations issued under the Fourth and Fifth Evaluation Rounds concerning members of parliament, judges and prosecutors, as well as central governments and law enforcement agencies. It also presents the launch of the Sixth Evaluation Round, focusing on preventing corruption and promoting integrity at the local and regional levels.
Overall, GRECO work in 2025 shows disparity of progress across member states regarding compliance with anticorruption standards. The 4th Round Evaluation issued recommendations regarding members of Parliament, judges and prosecutors and the report shows that in 27% of cases the compliance procedure was terminated following substantial implementation; in 46% compliance was assessed as "globally unsatisfactory." Most procedures have been ongoing for 9 to 13 years, raising concerns regarding the effectiveness of such measures. Concerning the members of Parliament anti-corruption standards, some integrity frameworks and codes of conduct are in place, but they tend to be too general, lack practical guidance, and are not consistently enforced. Confidential counselling and ethics training remain underdeveloped. Conflicts-of-interest rules, asset declarations, gift regulations and sanctions are incomplete in several states. Lobbying regulation is at an early stage everywhere, with no member state having a fully functioning framework. Some progress on ethical frameworks, appointment bodies and disciplinary mechanisms guarantee the quality of the conduct of judges and prosecutors, but persistent concerns remain about judicial independence, politicisation, merit-based appointments, and proportionate sanctions. Confidential counseling exists in only a few states. In some cases, renewal of judicial councils has been blocked for years.
The 5th Round instead focused GRECO’s recommendations especially on central governments and law enforcement agencies. In 2025, six procedures were terminated; many others show only limited implementation, with key recommendations partly or not implemented at all. Central governments showed that codes of conduct are being developed but often incomplete, not yet public, or lacking practical guidance. Lobbying regulation is missing or at an early stage in many states. Conflicts-of-interest mechanisms remain fragile. Asset declarations exist but lack robust verification and sanctions. Accountability bodies are often not yet fully operational. Special procedures protecting top officials risk shielding them from criminal accountability. However, more consistent progress can be seen in law enforcement agencies. Anti-corruption strategies and codes of conduct are improving but implementation gaps persist. Integrity screening at recruitment is strengthening in several states, though career-long vetting is not yet complete. Whistleblower protections are evolving but unevenly applied. Independent complaint mechanisms are absent in some states. Gender balance in leadership remains an outstanding concern.
Selected good practices highlighted by the report include Cyprus's e-consultation platform and regulation of political advisers, Germany's "executive footprint" in law-making, Portugal's confidential counselling unit for government members, and Spain's civil society involvement in transparency oversight; and for law enforcement agencies, Iceland's merit-based recruitment committees, Romania's public register of donations, and the UK's anonymous misconduct reporting tool.
On the 6 July 2026 GRECO also published the Fifth Round First Compliance report on Italy, concluding that Italy has fully implemented one out of nineteen set out in the Fifth Round Evaluation Report, while thirteen recommendations have been partly implemented and five have not been implemented.