The Council of Europe's Group of states against corruption (GRECO) has closed its fifth evaluation round in respect of Lithuania, in the light of the progress achieved in implementing its recommendations to prevent corruption and strengthen integrity among people entrusted with higher management positions in central government and law-enforcement agencies.
In a report published today, GRECO concludes that Lithuania has satisfactorily implemented or dealt with in a satisfactory manner 13 of the 17 recommendations addressed by GRECO to Lithuania in the Evaluation Report adopted in 2021. Of the remaining recommendations, three have been partly implemented, and one has not been implemented.
Significant changes make anti-corruption system more robust
GRECO notes the adoption of rules harmonising timelines for public consultations on draft government legislation and the strengthening of inter-agency coordination. It also recognises the expansion of practical guidance on the Code of conduct for state politicians, which now covers the President. Regular training of senior officials, together with confidential advice on ethics and integrity matters, has become part of broader efforts to raise awareness and promote a culture of integrity across the public sector. Positive developments also include the introduction of harmonised rules for registering gifts received by public officials and more detailed reporting of lobbying activities aimed at persons entrusted with top executive functions.
With regard to law-enforcement agencies, GRECO recognises regulatory and procedural improvements supporting a more uniform application of the Police Code of Ethics through greater consistency in decision-making by police ethics commissions. Measures to regularly check the integrity of candidates for senior posts in the police and border guard service, together with the introduction of confidential ethics counselling, are also recognised as strengths of the current system.
Private interest declarations must be better verified
At the same time, GRECO considers that further improvements remain necessary. The responsibilities of the Chief Official Ethics Commission need to be better defined with regard to verifying private interest declarations of high-level government officials and investigating possible integrity-related breaches. In addition, breaches of ethics and integrity rules should be subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, which is currently not the case. Further efforts are needed to address potential conflicts of interest in the context of post-employment (revolving door) risks for former law-enforcement officers.
GRECO has invited the Lithuanian authorities to keep it informed of further developments and encourages continued efforts towards the full implementation of the remaining recommendations.
* * *
The Group of states against corruption (GRECO) is a Council of Europe body that aims to improve its members' capacity to fight corruption by monitoring their compliance with anti-corruption standards. It helps states to identify deficiencies in national anti-corruption policies, prompting the necessary legislative, institutional and practical reforms. It comprises the 46 Council of Europe member states, Kazakhstan and the United States of America.
