Italy came joint 61st in
Transparency International's updated Corruption Perceptions
Index on Wednesday with a score of just 44 points out of 100 for
2015.
Italy shared 61st place with Lesotho, Senegal, South
Africa and Montenegro.
The only European Union country to do worse in the ranking
was Bulgaria, which came 69th with 41 points.
Nevertheless, Italy did better than in 2014, when it came
69th out of the 168 countries considered with 43 points.
The Corruption Perceptions Index measures the perceived
levels of public sector corruption.
A long series of corruption scandals have hit parties on
all sides of Italy's political spectrum and have been seen as
contributing to the rise of the anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S), which is now the country's second political
force.
Raffaele Cantone, the president of Italy's anti-corruption
authority (ANAC) which on Wednesday signed a deal to improve
monitoring with Transparency International, said the results
offered encouragement.
"(A rise of) eight positions in the ranking isn't a really
big number, but it isn't insignificant either, especially in a
year in which there were large corruption scandals such as Mafia
Capitale case," Cantone said, referring to an investigation into
allegations a mafia organisation muscled in on city of Rome
contracts worth millions.
"There's an reversal, a step forward that's been
registered for the first time and which I believe must be seen
as a recognition of the work being done to combat corruption.
"Today's data, which refers to perceived corruption, is
comforting.
"This year corruption was talked about a lot in Italy.
"There are signs of discontinuity that shouldn't be
underestimated".
Cantone cited as examples the fact that ANCE, the
association that represents builders, was favorable in hearings
before the Lower House on new laws governing tenders; and that
recent finance police figures show irregularities in tenders
have decreased from 39% to 30%.
But Italy's biggest trade union confederation, the
leftwing CGIL, did not agree with Cantone's analysis.
"The data on corruption is disconcerting," said Luciano
Silvestri of the CGIL.
"There are many causes but the government's actions, key
legislative vacuums and the reduction of rights do not help
prevention.
"It's necessary for the healthy forces of civil society to
unite to defeat this plague for democracy".
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