The two-day international conference Developing trends in combating corruption, money laundering and recovering criminal assets in Europe brings together 250 participants from 47 countries.
During the conference experts, policymakers and stakeholders will discuss trends in combating corruption and money-laundering and how to follow-up recommendations from the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) in order to ensure that international standards in this field are achieved and maintained. Developing a culture for supporting and protecting whistle-blowers, ensuring transparency in political funding and prevention of corruption among judges and prosecutors are also among the topics that will be addressed.
The conference is organised by the Norwegian Government, the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and the Council of Europe and is funded by the EEA and Norway Grants.
High-level speakers and participants from all over Europe
The conference will be opened by the Czech Minister of Finance Andrej Babiš, State Secretary Elsbeth Tronstad from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director General Philippe Boillat in the Directorate General for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in the Council of Europe. The two-day programme includes speakers from various European countries, including from the governments, parliaments, ministries, courts, national bank, research institutions, civil society, media and from Transparency International.
Download the conference programme
Read more about the themes of the conference
Conference website: www.eeagrants.cz/anti-corruptionconference
The international conference is one of the most important conferences supported by the EEA and Norway Grants in 2015.
Promoting good governance through the EEA and Norway Grants
Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. According to the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International it can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs. Corruption can be an obstacle to democracy and the rule of law, it undermines people’s trust in the political system and has a negative impact on national economies.
Good governance is fundamental to the economic and social development process of all countries and promoting good governance is a cross-cutting priority through all programmes and projects funded by the EEA and Norway Grants. Furthermore, a number of programmes and projects focus on improving public governance in the beneficiary states.
Examples of this are programmes directed towards judicial capacity-building and training of civil servants, judges and police: In one Bulgarian project, judges have been trained on human rights through placement at the European Court of Human Rights for up to a year. In Croatia, Council of Europe experts train court administrators on improving and speeding up processing of court cases. In Romania and Bulgaria, police is trained on how to be sensitive to working within Roma communities.
In Cyprus, a project contributing to improve the Unit for Combating Money Laundering of Cyprus (MOKAS)’s efficiency to detect money laundering and financing of terrorism.
Through our NGO programmes, projects addressing issues linked to good governance, transparency and anti-corruption are also supported.
In the Czech Republic, a Norway Grants programme is focusing on improving the competence and the capacity of two key institutions in the Czech Republic – The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice – in the area of combating economic crime and corruption and related offences, especially money-laundering.
Reducing disparities and strengthening cooperation
The EEA Grants and Norway Grants represent the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to reducing economic and social disparities and to strengthening bilateral relations with 16 EU countries.
Through the Grants, the Czech Republic is allocated €131.8 million in the current funding period.
Read more about the EEA and Norway Grants to the Czech Republic
Strategic cooperation with the Council of Europe
The EEA and Norway Grants has a strategic partnership with the Council of Europe (CoE) who provides strategic advice as well as technical input and know-how in its areas of expertise - human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Council of Europe is involved in 21 programmes and 28 projects supported through the Grants, covering ten beneficiary countries.
Find out more about the cooperation between the Grants and the Council of Europe.