The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the feeling of corruption in European Union citizens, with less than half of them considering that the crisis is being managed "transparently" by the authorities, according to an investigation by Transparency International published Tuesday.
The results of the study concluded that “in the European Union, only about four out of ten believe that their government has dealt transparently with the epidemic. In France, Poland and Spain, 60 percent or more of people surveyed believe their government´s handling of the pandemic lacks transparency.
The survey of more than 40,000 people from 27 countries in the European Union was conducted between October and December 2020.
Transparency International stated that corruption particularly affected health care. This is despite the fact that only 6% of those surveyed said they paid a bribe to get care and 29% relied on their personal relationships to be able to get quality care.
"Medical care in particular has been a breeding ground for corruption as governments seek to manage the COVID-19 pandemic," Transparency Organization said in its report.
The highest percentage of resorting to bribery in the health care sector, according to respondents, was recorded in Romania (22%) and Bulgaria (19%), while resorting to personal relationships was more common in the Czech Republic (54%) and Portugal (46%).
About half of the French surveyed have turned to their personal relationships for care in public facilities during the past year.
The report urged EU governments to "redouble their efforts to ensure a just and equitable exit from the pandemic."
Hungary and Poland have been cited as invoking the health crisis to "undermine democracy" by imposing new laws.
The report added that politicians saw this as an "opportunity to profit," pointing to alliances to buy protective masks.
In Germany, members of the ruling conservative party got involved in this type of market.
In this country, more than 60% of those interviewed believe that the government is under the influence of special interest groups.
This feeling about their governments is shared by more than half of those surveyed in Europe.
More broadly, a third of Europeans surveyed believe that the level of corruption is stable or increasing in their country.
“These findings should be seen as a wake-up call for both national governments and EU institutions,” Michel van Holten, Director of Transparency International EU, said in a statement.
