Europe’s grassroots anti-graft drive

Last Tuesday, about 80 university students from Serbia, who had cycled 780 miles across four countries, arrived in Strasbourg, France, the heart of the European Union. They went there to deliver a letter to EU leaders demanding action against corruption in their Balkan country, which is faltering in its efforts to join the 27-nation bloc.

The cross-border tour de force appears to have worked.

The next day, the EU commissioner in charge of the union’s enlargement strongly stated that the Serbian government needs to be “brought back on the European track” – meaning focused on better rule of law and transparency – following months of very large anti-corruption protests.

“What we are demanding from Serbia ... is nearly exactly the same as what the protesters in Serbia are demanding,” Commissioner Marta Kos said in an interview with the European Newsroom.

As one of the bicyclists told Serbia’s N1 cable news, “I think we have woken up Europe.”

In recent years, the EU has had many wake-up calls to the need to promote honest governance, not just in the nine states like Serbia aspiring to join the bloc, but also within its own member states.

Twice in the past three years, investigators have uncovered cash-for-influence scandals in the European Parliament. A leading politician in France, Marine Le Pen, has been barred for five years from running for president for misusing EU funds. In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) reported that it had more than 2,600 investigations last year – an increase of 38% from the previous year.

Laura Kövesi, head prosecutor of EPPO, said the agency is investigating Serbia for the misuse of EU money in an apparent corruption case that caused the collapse of a railway station canopy in November, killing 16. She praised “the mentality” of Serbs in seeking to root out the cause of the collapse.

“If they want to live in a clean country and are fighting for it, I believe that is the most important development you can have in a country,” she told Radio Television of Serbia.

More than 70% of reports on graft to the agency came from private citizens, a sign of widespread integrity in Europe. Such private initiatives are an indication of trust in EU prosecutors, Ms. Kövesi told the International Monetary Fund. “What we do is not for us, it’s for the benefit of the people. That is justice.”