Global Integrity Report: Poland - 2010

This peer-reviewed country report includes:

Integrity Indicators Scorecard: Scores, scoring criteria, commentary, references, and peer review perspectives for more than 300 Integrity Indicators.

Reporter's Notebook: An on-the-ground look at corruption and integrity from a leading local journalist.

Corruption Timeline: Ten years of political context to today's corruption and integrity issues.

HIGHLIghts

Like much of Eastern and Central Europe, Poland's performance on the Global Integrity Report: 2010 is relatively strong, though pockets of weakness remain. A free anti-corruption hotline, created in December 2010 by Poland's Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA), is a potentially important outlet for reporting instances of corruption, but it is too early to judge its real impact. The media continues to aggressively report on corruption issues, while the country's procurement system, audit agency, and tax collection authority all score well on transparency and professionalism. Despite those successes, gaps in Poland's anti-corruption architecture remain, especially in the lack of whistle blower protections and in the asset disclosures of senior officials remaining confidential and inaccessible to the public. Poland's aggregate data also point to a widening implementation gap, suggesting that in a post-EU accession environment enforcement of anti-corruption laws and institutions on the books has deteriorated.

From the Reporter's Notebook: In one presidential campaign the entire staff of one major candidate used 17 square meters of office space. In the same election, the staff of another candidate counted the cost of renting a meeting hall, but no travel costs to get there. Receipts are incomplete because keeping some expenses off the books allows parties to stay within spending limits set by the PKW. In theory, the commission could act on irregularities. In practice, according to The Batory Foundation, it mainly makes sure technical requirements are met.