| Author (Person) | Dinmore, Guy |
|---|---|
| Series Title | Financial Times |
| Series Details | 13.4.12 |
| Publication Date | 13/04/2012 |
| Content Type | News |
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Leaders of the three main political parties in Italy put forward proposals on the 12 April 2012 for reforming public funding for political parties in response to a series of corruption scandals in Italian politics that have fuelled calls for Mario Monti to remain as technocrat prime minister after elections scheduled for 2013. However, the proposals garnered condemnation from commentators and other politicians who demanded that public funding be slashed, instead of subjecting parties to more transparency and external auditing. The Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) identified critical shortcomings in the party funding system of Italy in an evaluation published in April 2012. The control performed by public authorities over political funding was seen as fragmented and formalistic, consisting of three different institutions with limited powers and no co-ordination either among themselves or with law enforcement bodies. GRECO urged political parties to develop their own internal control systems and to subject their accounts to independent audit. GRECO recommended more transparency in political finances by substantially lowering the €50,000 threshold under which the identity of the donor remained unknown to the public. Likewise, anonymous donations must be banned. Moreover, GRECO called for appropriate sanctions for the violation of funding rules, which must also be applied in practice. GRECO furthermore underlined the need for Italy to ratify the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and its Additional Protocol and to fully incorporate them into national law. Italy is one of the very few member states which are not party to these instruments. GRECO is particularly concerned about the effectiveness of the sanctioning regime for corruption offences in Italy and the high risk of prosecuted cases being dismissed as time barred. |
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| Countries / Regions | Italy |
