Fact check: which is the most corrupt European country?

The results vary depending on the metric being used and whether you’re looking at the European Union or Europe as a whole.

Transcript

00:00Is Hungary the most corrupt EU country?

00:08MEPs blasted Prime Minister Viktor Orban for turning Hungary into the most corrupt country in the EU

00:14as he presented his priorities for the Hungarian presidency of the EU to the European Parliament.

00:20Let's see what the figures say.

00:21In short, Hungary does consistently rank among the most corrupt European countries according to various scoreboards,

00:30but whether it's the worst country for financial crime depends on the metric being used.

00:35Transparency International's most recent Corruption Perception Index puts Hungary squarely at the bottom of all EU countries.

00:43On a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being highly corrupt and 100 being clean, Hungary scored 42,

00:49followed by Bulgaria with 45 and Romania with 46.

00:54This metric puts Hungary at 76th place out of 180 countries worldwide.

00:59Transparency International slammed Hungary for over a decade of systemic breach of the rule of law,

01:04which allows corruption to thrive unsanctioned.

01:07When you look at Europe as a whole, Russia is the country with the most financial crime,

01:12according to Transparency International, scoring 26 out of 100 and placing 141st out of 180.

01:19But if we change the ranking system, the results change too.

01:23Eurobarometer's 2024 survey on EU citizens' attitudes towards corruption

01:28found that 68% of Europeans consider corruption widespread in their country.

01:33Among those, Greece was perceived to have the worst dirty money problem,

01:37with 98% of citizens saying corruption was widespread there.

01:41Next came Portugal and Malta, with 96 and 95% respectively.

01:45Hungary actually came in 8th place, but a clear majority of people still consider the country corrupt, 88%.

01:52Stay tuned on Euronews and Euronews.com for the latest updates.