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The upcoming EU anti-corruption strategy

TA-10-2026-0341 · P10_TA(2026)0341 · PE790.852

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Parliament calls on the Commission to make its first comprehensive EU anti-corruption strategy, due by the end of 2026, ambitious and specific. It wants the strategy to focus on prevention, integrity standards, detection and prosecution, and the cross-border and international dimensions of corruption. It asks for harmonised integrity and revolving-door rules, common rules on political financing, and stronger protection for whistleblowers and journalists. It calls for more cooperation among EU agencies, more resources for the European Public Prosecutor's Office, and stronger rule of law conditionality for the EU budget. It wants the EU to join GRECO as a full member and to set common indicators to monitor the strategy and national anti-corruption policies.

Key points

  1. Parliament asks the Commission to include preventive measures, funded anti-corruption training for public administrations, and mapping of the sectors and policy areas most affected by corruption in each member state.
  2. It calls for commitments on integrity, transparency and accountability inside the EU institutions, and for guidelines on anti-corruption schemes in the public and private sectors.
  3. It wants harmonised integrity standards on conflicts of interest, gifts, hospitality, asset and interest declarations and sponsored travel for elected officials and senior office-holders, with checks and enforcement.
  4. It calls for stricter harmonised rules on revolving doors, cooling-off periods, secondary paid activities by Members of Parliament, and lobbying by former public officials.
  5. It asks for common rules on political financing, transparency of political foundations and intermediaries, and auditing and disclosure of party funding.
  6. It calls for better cooperation and data sharing among member states and EU bodies including Europol, Eurojust, the European Public Prosecutor's Office and the European Anti-Fraud Office, and for digital tools to detect corruption.
  7. It calls for stronger independent anti-corruption bodies with minimum standards and resources, more resources for the European Public Prosecutor's Office, and protection for whistleblowers and investigative journalists.
  8. It wants the strategy to address links between corruption, organised crime, money laundering and asset concealment, and stronger cooperation to trace, freeze, confiscate and recover proceeds of corruption.
  9. It expects the next multiannual financial framework to strengthen rule of law conditionality, with anti-corruption milestones in future national and regional programmes based on transparent, objective and enforceable criteria.
  10. It calls for EU priorities on enlargement and international cooperation, with independent anti-corruption bodies as an accession benchmark and civil society consulted in the accession process.
  11. It wants the EU to become a full member of GRECO, member states to implement GRECO recommendations, and common minimum transparency and integrity standards applied to all EU institutions.
  12. It calls for the timely transposition and enforcement of the directive on combating corruption, a regular review of the strategy, common monitoring indicators, and continued dedicated corruption assessment in the annual rule of law report.

Who is affected

  • EU institutions: must apply integrity, transparency and accountability commitments, and face the same scrutiny as national authorities.
  • Member states: must publish national anti-corruption strategies, transpose and enforce the directive, and join the European Public Prosecutor's Office.
  • Elected officials and senior office-holders: subject to harmonised integrity standards, asset declarations and revolving-door rules.
  • Civil society, whistleblowers and journalists: to be involved in the strategy and protected from retaliation and abusive litigation.
  • Candidate countries: independent anti-corruption bodies are an accession benchmark and their frameworks are assessed.

Figures and deadlines

  • Corruption is estimated to cost the EU between EUR 179 billion and EUR 990 billion annually.
  • 69 % of EU citizens believe corruption is widespread in their country.
  • 73 % believe corruption exists in national public institutions and 70 % in local or regional public institutions.
  • Almost 60 % of known criminal groups engage in corruption.
  • The strategy is planned for adoption by the end of 2026.