Publications
Rolling Back State Capture in Southeast Europe. Implementing Effective Instruments for Asset Declaration and Politically Exposed Companies
Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine has intensified existing geopolitical tensions throughout 2022 and into 2023, exposing persistent rule...
SELDI Policy Brief 18: Media Capture in the Western Balkans: From captured states to captured media
Media capture is quite visible in all Western Balkan countries. Governments influence the media by regulating access to government news...
SELDI Policy Brief 17: Anticorruption policies and regulatory environment in the Western Balkans
Despite the high corruption levels, observed through SELDI's 2021 Corruption Monitoring System (CMS), the Western Balkan countries continue to lack...
SELDI Policy Brief 16: Civil Society in Anti-Corruption: Countering CSO Capture
Civil society organizations have become critical protagonists in the fight against organized crime and corruption. However, less than 1% out...
Geopolitics, State Capture and Peak Corruption. What is Next for Anticorruption in the Western Balkans?
The Kremlin’s war in Ukraine has come to dominate the agenda in Europe in a very urgent way. It has...
SELDI Policy Brief 15: International and Regional Cooperation: Transcending Borders in the Fight against Corruption
International and regional cooperation is a powerful tool for effectively addressing the problem of corruption. Corruption is an intricate issue...
SELDI Policy Brief 14: The hidden economy in the Western Balkans in a time of crisis: Friend or foe
The hidden economy is closely linked to corruption. Empirical studies show that they fuel each other - a one-point rise...
Public Procurement Integrity in Southeast Europe: Mechanisms, Red Flags, and State-Owned Enterprises in the Energy Sector
The present report focused on two of the most challenging governance vulnerabilities in the SEE region: analyzing the integrity of...
News & Events
Tackling State Capture in Southeast Europe: Delivering on the European Rule of Law Promise
The countries of Southeastern Europe (SEE) have come a long way in their anti-corruption development in the past two decades,...
Public-Private Partnership in Anticorruption during the Year of Action of the Summit for Democracy
Tackling corruption is a common challenge for the global democratic community. In Central and Southeast Europe, the re-distribution of state...
Use of big data for tracking strategic corruption and kleptocracy. Strengthening the role of the civil society and the media
The Regional Good Governance Public-Private Partnership Platform (R2G4P) continued its efforts to increase the capacity of its civil society and...
Democratic Resilience in the EU’s Neighborhood: The Role of Good Governance and Constructive Capital
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a wake-up call for policymakers to reinforce Europe's security and geopolitical standing. The...
Good Governance and Anti-Corruption in Southeast Europe in Times of Geopolitical Uncertainty
The war in Ukraine urged international organizations to recognize that institutional gaps are abused by foreign autocrats to spread disinformation...
Strengthening Democratic Resilience in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Tackling the Kremlin Playbook in Southeast Europe
Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently the most unstable and vulnerable country in SEE with botched EU accession prospects, dysfunctional federal...
Strengthening Democratic Resilience in Montenegro: Tackling the Kremlin Playbook in Southeast Europe
The global offensive that autocratic states, led by Russia and with the silent support of China, are waging against rules-based...
Strengthening Democratic Resilience in North Macedonia: Tackling the Kremlin Playbook in Southeast Europe
The Kremlin Playbook in Europe has demonstrated that the Balkans are the most vulnerable flank of the democratic Euro-Atlantic community....
Infographic: The Way Towards Good Governance in Southeast Europe
The comparative analysis of SEE‑9 public procurement and energy SOEs’ management practices in the first R2G4P SEE Good Governance report...
Infographic: Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in the Energy Sector
The energy sector presents one of the main systematic governance problems leading to significant losses of public wealth and providing...
Infographic: Public Procurement Integrity
The first SEE Good Governance report, published by the R2G4P anti-corruption initiative, focuses on two of the most testing governance...
Infographic: Tackling corruption and breaking the accession backlog in the Western Balkans
2019 SELDI Corruption Monitoring System (CMS) data showed that countries that could see the prize of accession to the EU...
Infographic: Insights from SELDI’s Corruption Monitoring System 2021
The anti-corruption progress achieved in the Western Balkans between the early 2000s and mid-2010s has now been reversed with most...
Infographics: Hidden Economy levels in the Western Balkans
The hidden economy is a widespread phenomenon throughout the Western Balkans and manifests itself in various sectors, among which the...
Infographic: State Capture levels in the Western Balkans
SELDI’s State Capture Assessment Diagnostics (SCAD) results reveal that multiple economic sectors in the region show symptoms which can potentially...
Infographic: Power Outages: Energy Governance and State Capture in SEE
Energy has been identified as one of the critical sectors with high corruption and state-capture risks, which should be addressed...
Quotable
“Fighting corruption is a defining challenge of our era. Corruption weakens people’s resolve and their ability to belive they can do better.”
There is a strong expectation that the potential future member states uphold the rule of law. Clear progress in the fight against corruption is essential for the progress of the EU membership. Reforms in this context need to be deep and without compromise, and it is clear to us that only with integrity, transparency and high standards will make these reforms succeed.”
The role of the civil society organizations of the region in the area of good governance is essential for the advancement of the Western Balkans on their path to the EU.”
Reducing corruption bolsters national security. When citizens of a nation feel they cannot succeed within their system because of the corrupt systems of corruptive practices, we see dangerous ripple effects throughout society and the world. Corruption serves as a driver toward false or even more violent extremist narratives.”
The European project is not finished until the Western Balkans are inside. … The Economic and Investment Plan will speed up the economic development of the Western Balkans and boost the region’s convergence with the European Union. However, the implementation of this plan goes hand-in-hand with the continued need for reforms in the areas of so-called “fundamentals”.
Nicola BertoliniHead of Operation, EU Delegation to the Republic of North Macedonia , 08 April 2021
The informal economy is a multi-faceted problem and as a result, it needs to be tackled in a comprehensive way, with a full government approach. What we have been seeing in some countries is that this is not the case – there are partial ways of trying to address informality (even though the problem is acknowledged). This calls for a comprehensive look, not only from the angle of a particular ministry or institution.
“If we look at the European integration process as a box-ticking exercise, it would be easy…but we know that this is not the case – rules are only useful when they are enforced.”
Ms. Viola von Cramon-TaubadelMEP, Greens/EFA Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the European Parliament's rapporteur for Kosovo, 30 October 2020
“If we look at the European integration process as a box-ticking exercise, it would be easy…but we know that this is not the case – rules are only useful when they are enforced.”
Ms. Viola von Cramon-TaubadelMEP, Greens/EFA Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the European Parliament's rapporteur for Kosovo, 30 October 2020
“If we look at the European integration process as a box-ticking exercise, it would be easy…but we know that this is not the case – rules are only useful when they are enforced.”
Ms. Viola von Cramon-TaubadelMEP, Greens/EFA Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the European Parliament's rapporteur for Kosovo, 30 October 2020
“If we look at the European integration process as a box-ticking exercise, it would be easy…but we know that this is not the case – rules are only useful when they are enforced.”
Ms. Viola von Cramon-TaubadelMEP, Greens/EFA Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the European Parliament's rapporteur for Kosovo, 30 October 2020
“In every country, leaders seem to regard political office as a source of patronage to stay in power. Addressing the so-called state capture and rooting out these influences must be a top priority”
Corruption remains a major impediment to progress in this region. It is the cancer that saps strength from our democracies and drives up unemployment and civil unrest. More than that, it opens vulnerabilities that autocrats, petro states, and violent extremists exploit. All those who seek to stir up trouble here find an easy gateway when dirty money can buy corrupt politicians and undercut democratic governance and the rule of law.
Ms. Victoria NulandAssistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, US Department of State, 10 July 2015
The new approach of opening chapters 23 and 24 earlier in accession negotiations can push the implementation of necessary long-term reforms beyond the term of a single government. The countries need to have real anti-corruption mechanisms that stand the test and are systematically used to expose illegal wealth. Lately however the countries embrace the soft preventive tools, and effective enforcement is missing.
Ms Sabine ZwaenepoelChapter Coordinator, Accession Negotiations to the EU, DG NEAR, 14 June 2016
Rooting out corruption, increased transparency and how government operates, making sure that regulations are not designed just to advantage elites, but are allowing people who have a good idea to get out there and get things done.
Mr. Barack ObamaPresident of the United States, 24 July 2015
World opinion makers say corruption has increased; and that power and technology generate grand corruption. We face new challenges. The time is ripe for a new rule book to fight corruption. Most of us prioritize the bribe giver, and the bribe taker. This morning, I suggest we sharpen our focus on the middlemen. The enablers of corruption; those who profit off its proceeds.
Mr. Leonard McCarthyWorld Bank Group Vice President for Integrity, 11 May 2015
Corruption drains your economy, it eats into progress, it is an everyday tiresome blight on people’s lives. It’s time to end it – by prosecuting and punishing it, but also preventing it, through a new culture.
Mr. Jean Claude JunckerPresident of the European Commission, 28 April 2015
Social Media
Russia’s ongoing #WarinUkraine exposed persistent #ruleoflaw deficiencies and other governance gaps in Southeast Europe.
The second @SELDI_Network 📑 on how to overcome this. #R2G4P
👉https://bit.ly/3wR7uer
🏢 #Procurement and #asset declarations’ data in SEE-9 shows that the contract volume share of politically connected firms varies between 2% (Croatia in 2017) and 16% (Serbia in 2021) with an average share of 5%.
Read the full report ⏩ https://seldi.net/publications/rolling-back-state-capture-in-southeast-europe-implementing-effective-instruments-for-asset-declaration-and-politically-exposed-companies/
📝 Good practice and prerequisites for efficient #checks of #asset declarations
📌 These include using electronic platforms, cross-checks in multiple registers, gathering information on the ultimate beneficial owners, etc.
Read the full report ⏩ https://seldi.net/publications/rolling-back-state-capture-in-southeast-europe-implementing-effective-instruments-for-asset-declaration-and-politically-exposed-companies/
✍️ Asset declarations are strong, but under-used instruments for #corruption and #illicitfinance prevention among civil servants, particularly politically exposed persons (PEPs).
📄 https://seldi.net/publications/rolling-back-state-capture-in-southeast-europe-implementing-effective-instruments-for-asset-declaration-and-politically-exposed-companies/
🗣️ The latest R2G4P policy forum discussed how the #anticorruption resolve in SEE could be restored, how public-private partnerships could support legal and procedural reforms, and what are the lessons learnt for the EU member states and #EU candidates.
⏩ https://seldi.net/news-and-events/tackling-state-capture-in-southeast-europe-delivering-on-the-european-rule-of-law-promise/
📚 The second SEE Good Governance Report focuses on the #bigdata tools necessary to identify the existence of ill-gained #assets hidden by politically exposed persons (#PEPs).
https://seldi.net/publications/rolling-back-state-capture-in-southeast-europe-implementing-effective-instruments-for-asset-declaration-and-politically-exposed-companies/