SPEECH BY MRS HELLE DEGN,
CHAIRPERSON OF THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC AFFAIRS AND DEVELOPMENT
OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE,
AT THE OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE:

"THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS IN FIGHTING CORRUPTION", RIGA, 23 MARCH 1999

Mr(s) …, Mr(s) …, fellow parliamentarians, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great honour for me to open this important conference, the first of its kind, here in the Latvian Parliament, in the beautiful and proud city of Riga. Let me start by thanking the Latvian Parliament - and in particular Mr Janis Straume, the Speaker, and Mr Sinka, Chairman of the Latvian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe - for having accepted to act as our host to us today.

It is altogether appropriate that this conference should be held in Latvia, in view of Latvia's strong determination to fight corruption and thereby favour even more its already impressive economic and social development. Latvia may not be the largest country in terms of territory and population. However, it is a very dynamic country and it forms part of an equally vibrant region - that of the Baltic Sea - where countries that previously were separated from each other can now develop together. Your country, Mr Speaker – we see - has realised, that for economic growth to occur, you have to fight corruption at every level. I congratulate you on your efforts and achievements so far, and I am sure you will continue to set an example for others, in spite of the many difficulties that you, like the rest of us, face.

My thanks go also to the World Bank, as represented here today through Ms Sutch, Mr Nelson, Mr Pradhan and others. We know that under the World Bank President, Mr Wolfensohn, the fight against corruption has become one of the priorities of the World Bank. We in the Economic Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe are happy to work so closely with you, not only in preparing this conference with our hosts, but on so many other subjects of importance to Europe and to the world economy.

My final thanks are addressed to the Sub-Committee on International Economic Relations - in particular its Chairman Mr Leers of the Netherlands, and its Vice-Chairman Mr Townend of the United Kingdom. They, and their colleagues on the sub-committee, have also worked very hard to prepare this event.

I wish to address you today, ladies and gentlemen, not only as Chairperson of the Economic Committee of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly - or as President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly - but above all as the Rapporteur of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly on the subject "The Threat to Europe from Economic Crime", a report presented last year. I shall not deal with the details of that report, but rather focus on just a few basic conclusions that I drew personally in working on the subject.

The first message is that we - members of national parliaments or international assemblies such as those of the Council of Europe, of the OSCE or of the European Parliament - should stand, must stand, in the forefront of this battle. Why? Because if we fail - either to set an example to our citizens through our own behaviour, or to shape an honest society with the laws we make and the administrations we are resposible for - then people will lose faith in public institutions, in government, in democracy. How can we expect ordinary citizens to be honest in their pursuits, in paying their taxes and so on, if they feel that those in whom they have placed their trust through the election process do not set a good example?

Corruption is like a cancer. If it is in one part of the body, it easily spreads to other parts. Unless it is mercilessly attacked and rooted out in treatment, the tumour will only grow and eventually kill the body. In the same way, corruption can kill a whole society.

Corruption is like a cancer also in the sense that it sneaks in surreptitiously, wherever we, as lawmakers, do not exercise constant vigilance through the laws, institutions and routines we create. An official who has been bribed once - even if he or she wants to say no the second time - will not dare out of fear that his or her first crime will be revealed by those who corrupt. The contagion spreads. The official may involve others, who are then also at the mercy of the bribers.

We need only look at how reputation of the European Commission - indeed that of the European Union as a whole - has suffered as a result of the corruption enquiry now underway within the European Parliament. It led to the Commission's dismissal a few days ago, and it is not over yet. But it is heartening that the Commission three weeks ago announced a code of conduct to remedy the situation. In many of our national parliaments we have had similar scandals, which lead many ordinary people to ask whether our democracies are growing old, tired, whether democracy is indeed worth it.

To this I say: "No, we must never give up on democracy, for there is no better system. Let us prove that our democracies can regain their honesty and purity if they have lost it. Let us show that even in a materialistic age such as ours, our public officials can, must and will behave with the kind of integrity without which all around us will founder.

We have to do this through transparency and accountability in public affairs, through checks-and-balances in government, through truly independent and honest courts, by clamping down on corruption wherever it occurs, whoever does it, from the highest in the land to the most humble.

It is fashionable these days to look with some ridicule across the Atlantic to our American friends, and accuse them of being overzealous in bringing their officials to justice when they are suspected of corruption. I remember well when, some ten years ago, a high official was saved only through a Presidential pardon when he had used the relatively trifle sum of some 50 dollars of public money to buy private garden equipment. Or when a minister in a European country a few years ago had to resign when it was discovered that she had used her government credit card to buy some food for her family. Bribe in connection with arms trade, these are examples of "nippin in the bud" which all of our countries ought to follow when it comes to corruption and other kinds of wrongdoing by public officials.

Today, we shall learn about how the World Bank views the problem of corruption. I look forward very much to the presentation and discussions. And we, the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, will take all that we will have learned back with us to our national parliaments - and to Strasbourg, to the Parliamentary Assembly and to the Council of Europe as a whole. We will urge the 40 member states of the Council of Europe to work even harder to fight corruption, beyond the Twenty Guiding Principles adopted last November by the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers in a milestone development. You will find these Principles and many other achievements of the Council of Europe available in this room if you are interested.

And we shall work together with our partners in the World Bank - but also with the OECD, the EBID and others - to intensify the struggle against this scourge. I am sure that all of you present, in whatever capacity you attend, will do the same.

It is said that: "Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely". This is very true. So therefore we, parliamentarians and others, will have to make sure that power never becomes absolute or shared by only a few in collusion, but that it always remains accountable to the people, that it is transparent, and that it is shared between separate and independent branches of government: the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. And that there is always also that fourth essential power - an independent, free, inquisitive, I would even say 'nosy' press - ready to uncover any wrongdoings. How we, as lawmakers, can contribute to this state of affairs will, I am sure, become much clearer to us at the end of the day. I thank you for your attention.

uddrag fra: The Europeans, Issue 13, Spring Session, April 1999. - side 15:

Corruption can seriously impair a country's economic development. And Parliaments are the first and last bulwark against corruption.

These were the two main messages coming out from a conference on "The Role of Parliaments in Fighting Corruption" held in Riga on 23 March 1999 in a joint operation between the Parliamentary Assembly, the latvian Parliament and the World Bank. Gerd Leers, Chairman of the organising Sub-committee on International Economic Relations even called Parliaments the "only barrier against chaos, arbitrary rule and dictatorship".

Helle Degn, Chairperson of the Committee on Economic, Affairs and Development likened corruption to a cancer spreading from one part of society to another. lt is for lawmakers, she said, to root it out by exercising constant vigilance through the examples they set and the laws, institutions and routines they create.

Juris Sinka, Chairman of the latvian delegation to the Assembly pointed to his country's determined efforts to fight corruption, and to its democratic traditions preceding communism and its suffering under the latter's long rule. World Bank representative Sanjay Pradhan commended the host country on its efforts to fight corruption, for instance through citizen scrutiny of public projects. "Parliaments", he said, "have an indispensable role role in making sure, that the executive remains transparent. In this, it has to be supported by civil society and free media".

The Committee on Economic Affairs and Development will report to the Assembly in due course. The Conference proceedings will be ready by June. The World Bank will use the event to show other nations' parliamnetns and governments what can and needs to be done.