The Group of States against Corruption (known under the abbreviation GRECO) has warned in its compliance report for Slovakia that the country has failed to implement 16 of the 21 recommendations from 2019. These were the recommendations of the Fifth Evaluation Report on Slovakia from June 2019, which focused on preventing corruption and promoting integrity in top executive functions and law enforcement.
GRECO concluded that Slovakia has satisfactorily implemented two of the 21 recommendations listed in the Fifth Evaluation Report, while three recommendations have been implemented partially and the remaining sixteen have not been implemented. The assessment was based on the situation report submitted by the Slovak authorities to the Council of Europe in late May 2021.
GRECO appreciated that in September 2019, the Slovak government adopted the National Anti-Corruption Programme, which has partly taken into account its recommendations. For example, the anti-corruption body recommended that Slovakia should adopt a code of conduct for persons in top executive positions (ministers, state secretaries, political advisors) and to make it public in order to provide clear guidance on conflict of interest and other integrity aspects and to ensure the monitoring and implementation of the code. According to GRECO, Slovakia has taken the first steps in this area, but this is only the beginning of the process.
When it comes to the fight against corruption within the Slovak Police Corps, GRECO opined that an operational anti-corruption strategy should be adopted. First of all, the Code of Ethics needs to be updated to address integrity issues, namely conflicts of interest, gifts, contacts with third parties, off-duty activities, handling of confidential information. In addition, all training activities of police officers should be based on the revised Code of Ethics.
Last but not least, GRECO also recommended improving the effectiveness of the protection of whistleblowers, and that police officers should be trained and informed on a regular basis about whistleblowing protection measures.
Source: TASR
