Standards of Prevention and Counteraction to Corruption in the EU

The article analyzes the standards of prevention and counteraction to corruption in the European Union. It has been proved that anti-corruption legislated in the European Union is limited and fragmentary comparing to international standards adopted by other international organizations. In general attention has been focused on unification of criminal law definitions of corruption in private and public sectors, criminalization of money laundering in the area of corruption and liability of legal entities for corruption offences. At the level of the European Union corruption is defined as bribery when the standards of the Council of Europe and the United Nations provide for criminalization and other types of corruption offences. The main means for prevention of corruption is criminalization of corruption actions. Preventive measures, prevention in principle is stipulated in certain spheres of regulation for example in the area of public procurements, in the obligation to apply international standards of audit and auditing as well as prevention of money laundering related to corruption. But fragmentarity of anti-corruption mechanisms in the European Union can be explained by the fact that majority of the EU states are parties to international treaties aimed at prevention and counteraction to corruption. That is why there is no need to duplicate their provisions. Besides, competence of the European Union does not cover many spheres where measures for prevention of corruption are especially important, for example, public sector of the member states. Assessments and recommendations of GRECO have an immense impact on anti-corruption measures related to financing of political parties. Majority of states have recently amended their legislation regarding financing of political parties in order to increase the level of transparency in these processes including donations. In majority of states there are restrictions for anonymous donations and political parties make public reports about their accounts. Amendments to national legislation of the member states have been planned in accordance with GRECO recommendations