According to Delna, compared with 2021 Latvia’s Corruption Perception Index in 2022 has remained unchanged – 59 out of 100. This is significantly lower when compared with other member states of the European Union and OECD. It also indicates that Latvia will likely fail to accomplish the goals outlined in the National Development Plan 2021-2027, specifically reaching a score of 64 points in 2024 and 67 in 2027.

When it comes to political honesty Latvia’s score (49 out of 100) is the lowest in the EU and puts Latvia on the same level as Greece, Slovakia, Poland, Malta, Hungary and Romania. When it comes to business integrity, Latvia’s score is 52 out of 100. In this score Latvia is behind Estonia the most. This also indicates that often there are various undocumented additional payments (bribes) provided in order to secure certain decisions or benefits. Business integrity is negatively impacted by scandals involving misuse of public resources and EU funds, competition distortion in different national economy sectors and overall responsibility of various state officials.

"It feels as though decision-makers, the government and society do not understand the negative effects of corruption, act recklessly towards out security and reject our own long-term welfare," says Inese Tauriņa, Director of Delna.

Delna also believes it is necessary to amend Saeima Rules of Order and provide the State Audit full authority to perform audit of the parliament’s budget, as well as improve existing public procurement control mechanisms with transparent monitoring measures. It is also necessary to ensure higher information transparency in regard to contracts signed through price surveys and under-threshold procurements. It is also necessary to make it a duty for the Procurement Monitoring Bureau to review complaints submitted by third parties.

Delna's analysis and recommendations of the Corruption Perception Index for Latvia are available HERE

Source: LETA