BNR-Kalin Slavov: We keep the last place of CPI in European Union and it is very disturbing

Transparency International  publishes its 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index in 180 countries.

In front of Bulgarian National Radio, Kalin Slavov, CEO of Transparency International-Bulgaria, remind that the index has a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 show the highest and 100 being the lowest level of corruption.

The index is composite from several studies – globally they are 13, and for Bulgaria they are 10. The studies are from different international organizations that give different cuts to society and economy.

“This ranking is an in-depth study and is far from a simple understanding of the level of bribery, for example,” Slavov said.

For Bulgaria there is no particular movement in the ranking – we keep the last place in the European Union with the index level, which can be described as worrying and on which we have systemic problems with corruption, he added.

We are on the last place in CPI from 2012, with the exception of one year in which Greece displaced Bulgaria from last place.

Globally, our country climbed from 77th to 74th in the Transparency International ranking.

“Our index is on the half of the result of Denmark, which has 87 points, indicating that Denmark is the country (together with New Zealand) with the best anti-corruption position – these two countries are at the top of the index.” said Slavov.

According to him, the main reasons behind this tendency for Bulgaria are key pillars such as freedom of the media, confidence in the election process, financing of political parties, appointments in public institutions and last but not least the rule of law.

You can hear the interview in Bulgarian with the Executive Director of Transparency International-Bulgaria, Kalin Slavov on the BNR website.