For third year in a row, Hungary most corrupt country in EU according to Transparency International

Once again, Hungary came last among EU member states in Transparency International's global corruption list. This year it even lost one point compared to last year, thus, on a scale of 0 to 100, the country came last with 41 points, Hvg reports. The country achieved its best score in 2007, when it was the 10th most corrupt country, but it has been sliding steadily downwards ever since, with the decline being even faster since 2015.

According to the report by Transparency International's Berlin-based headquarters, serious levels of corruption have been detected worldwide, with more than two-thirds of all countries scoring below 50 out of 100.

The organisation assessed 180 countries in total, so there are probably plenty of countries behind Hungary on the corruption list, including South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Suriname, Vietnam, Colombia and Guyana, Turkey (34 points), Bosnia and Herzegovina (33 points), Russia (22 points) and Somalia (9 points).

The most transparent countries are Denmark (90 points), Finland (88 points) and Singapore (84 points), but Norway (81 points), Switzerland (81 points) and Sweden (80 points) are also among the top ten, followed by Austria (67 points), Slovenia (60 points), the Czech Republic (56 points), Slovakia (49 points) and Romania (46 points).

According to Transparency's report and analysis of the EU's western region, major economies such as Germany (75 points) and France (67 points), and even the traditionally strong Nordic countries of Norway and Sweden, have scored their lowest ever, while others such as Slovakia (49), Malta (46) and Hungary (41) have done worse than before, due to the erosion of the rule of law," they said. Of the 31 countries examined in the region, only six improved their scores and 19 did worse than last time. The analysis points out that these deteriorating conditions are not conducive to developing responses to the climate crisis either.

TI mentioned Italy as an example of a country where anti-corruption measures have been taken recently, while Hungary was cited as a negative example. They noted that the country is characterised by systemic corruption and a steady deterioration of the rule of law, with its corruption index "having declined by 14 points since 2012 (...)

Even the withholding of €20 billion in EU funding has been unable to force the Orbán regime to restore the rule of law and democracy."

Austria and Spain are also mentioned among the big backsliders.