Monica Macovei Fights Corruption

Romanian Member of the European Parliament Monica Macovei urged the European Union to adopt standardized  anti-corruption laws and enforce their implementation within each EU country, during a talk yesterday at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Macovei—credited with anti-corruption efforts that enabled Romania’s accession to the EU in 2007—expressed concern about high levels of corruption in both Romania and Bulgaria, home to widespread fraud, corruption, and organized crime.

But, she said, the problem is not limited to new member states.

Throughout Europe, 56 billion euros are lost each year to health care fraud and corruption, she said.

Macovei argued, during the talk to about 30 undergraduates from area colleges, that corruption in the EU is still seen as a national matter.

“[Currently] there is no EU policy for anti-corruption on the EU level,” she said. “Anti-corruption is only a requirement for candidate countries.”

She argued that Romania had set up the necessary anti-corruption legislation to join the EU, but that enforcement efforts had not been effective.

While anti-corruption legislation is overseen by an international organization called the Group of States Against Corruption, the group does not look at policy implementation and is ineffective, said Macovei, a former justice minister.

Macovei said corruption is a pressing concern throughout Europe and not just in Romania.

She cited a Eurobarometer survey, conducted for the European Commission, which revealed that 78 percent of Europeans regard corruption as a major problem in their country.

“We need to respond to people’s concerns and people’s requests regarding corruption,” she said.

Besides improving anti-corruption efforts, Macovei called for standardizing how different institutions within Europe measure corruption, which would better allow for comparison among countries.

She said improved anti-corruption efforts would not extend beyond the EU’s legal purview, outlined in the Lisbon Treaty.

Aware that she was speaking in the United States, she argued that European corruption should also be a concern in America.

Corruption in the EU could hurt trade relations with the U.S., potentially raising prices, she said.

One member of the audience said he found the talk informative.

“Previously I was unaware of the absence of pan-European anti-corruption laws and I think the EU should make that a priority,” Patrick J. Leonard ’14 said.