Fighting Business Corruption Beyond Borders: The European Perspective

Combating corruption in international business transactions has recently gained traction as nations have expanded the reach of their anti-bribery laws to include corrupt acts by their nationals outside their boundaries. Corruption is increasingly seen an international ill that weakens governments, distorts trade, fosters instability, accentuates inequality, and, most cruelly, crushes the most vulnerable, the poor. Although corruption occurs throughout the world, anti-corruption initiatives, on paper and in practice, vary from nation to nation. Yet, from west to east, expansive and comprehensive anti-corruption initiatives are taking hold, including in Europe. In Europe, the EU and the OECD have raised the standard and the urgency for tackling corruption. However, to date, these initiatives continue to fall short of their promise and their potential. In countries such as Romania where corruption is endemic, the impulse to address corruption has been numbed by rhetoric, unsupported by action and by laws and a legal system not up to the task. In short, while others have set the direction, Romania has not picked up the challenge. This challenge must be seized, however, and now is the time for Romania to move in the direction that the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act have taken.