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Mission
This workshop is meant to be a
forum open to both academics and practitioners in the field
of anti-corruption/fraud in Europe (and abroad), where
first-hand experiences and knowledge of the role, powers and
activities of anti-corruption agencies can be exchanged with
a view to further integrated initiatives and policy
research.
Outline
One distinctive feature of the
anti-corruption activity of the 90s is the level of
regulatory and institutional innovation achieved. In
addition to the role played by the traditional
anti-corruption actors, we also witnessed the rise of new
players, such as the anti-corruption agencies. The format of
these agencies and their success in keeping up with new
forms of corruption vary greatly from one country to
another. But there is also a good deal of institutional mimetism. On the one hand, the creation of these agencies
was the product of specific patterns of legal-institutional
development and reactions to emerging challenges. Each
agency is, in that respect, one of a kind. Some countries
have endowed their agencies with investigative and
prosecution powers, whereas others have preferred a more
preventive, educational and informative role. There are also
differences with regard to their scope of action, resources,
accountability requirements, etc. On the other hand, there
has also been a convergence in the type of agency adopted.
It may be improper to use the word model, but at least we
could say that, since the late 1980s, we have witnessed an
increasing cross-country transfer of knowledge about the
format of these bodies. Knowledge of the successes and
failures of foreign experiences and the importation of
models already tested abroad is an important feature of this
policy process. Independently of their format and
competences, ACAs encounter various constraints to their
mandate, which explains the meagre results obtained by some
of them: 1) difficulties in unveiling corruption via
complaints (technical, statutory and cultural); 2)
difficulties in obtaining information about corruption and
its opportunity structures from other state bodies/agencies
and 3) difficulties in establishing a good working
relationship with the political sphere. There is also a
discrepancy between expected results and achievable ones
that should not be ignored. Certain ACAs remain unknown to
the wider public and do not anchor their
anti-corruption/fraud role in civil society. This is partly
due to their format and partly to a lack of understanding of
the centrality of citizens to the whole process of control,
given the obscure nature of these transactions. On the one
hand, this workshop is meant to assess ways of increasing
citizens’ involvement in reporting corrupt and fraudulent
practices/conduct and the opportunity structures conducive
to that deviant behaviour and, on the other, ways of
promoting greater awareness of what the Community’s
financial interests are and how and why they need to be
protected.
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