The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Joint statement by the Council and the representatives of the governments of the Member States meeting within the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission on European Union Development Policy: "The European Consensus"(1),

–   having regard to the UN Convention against Corruption of 31 October 2003,

–   having regard to the UN Declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions of 16 December 1996,

–   having regard the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions of 21 November 1997,

–   having regard to the UN Millennium Declaration of 8 September 2000, which sets out the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as objectives established jointly by the international community for the elimination of poverty,

–   having regard to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness of 2 March 2005,

–   having regard to the Fourth Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report of 12 July 2005 entitled "Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Opportunities and Challenges for Business and Industry",

–   having regard to Articles 8, 9 and 97 of the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000(2),

–   having regard to the Declaration by the G8 Summit in Evian on Fighting Corruption and Improving Transparency of 2 June 2003,

–   having regard to the Report of the Commission for Africa of 11 March 2005 entitled "Our Common Interest",

–   having regard to the EU strategy to combat the illicit accumulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and their ammunition adopted by the European Council of 15-16 December 2005;

–   having regard to its resolution of 15 May 2003 on Capacity-building in the developing countries(3),

–   having regard to its resolution of 31 March 2004 on Governance in the European Union's development policy(4),

–   having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Development (A6-0048/2006),

A.   whereas corruption hurts the poor disproportionately, restricting their access to public goods and lowering the quality of basic services, making it more difficult to escape the poverty spiral,

B.   whereas corruption has a negative impact on the business climate, the effectiveness of public service provision and the public's trust in their government,

C.   whereas corruption obstructs aid effectiveness and therefore undermines the development goals of the EU and slows down the pace of development in the EU's partner countries,

D.   whereas the World Bank estimates that more than USD 1 000 000 000 000 is paid in bribes every year throughout the world and the African Union estimates that corruption costs African economies more than 25% of Africa's GDP annually,

E.   whereas corruption is a problem affecting society as a whole and takes many forms and a "one size fits all" strategy does not apply, as corruption can only be permanently eliminated through a broad approach,

F.   whereas numerous players, including politicians, government officials, civil society, the media, multinationals and international donors, can play a role in the fight against corruption,

G.   whereas corruption is both one of the causes and one of the consequences of conflict situations,

H.   whereas corruption is a threat to basic human needs, such as access to health and education,

I.   whereas corruption is a by-product of weak governance, inextricably linked to the role of the State, and should therefore be fought by strategies promoting good governance,

J.   whereas transparency and accountability are key principles in the fight against corruption,

K.   whereas due attention should be given to the link between the illicit manufacture, transfer and circulation of SALW and corruption practices in both developing and developed countries,

L.   whereas curbing corruption is impossible without the awareness and participation of civil society and whereas access to all the information is crucial in this process,

M.   whereas the 2003 UN Convention Against Corruption is the first international legal instrument to recognise the need for all States to commit to asset repatriation, and whereas the only EU Member States that have ratified this Convention are Hungary and France,

N.   whereas the 1997 OECD Convention may be signed only by OECD Member States or full participants in the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions;

1.  Calls on the Commission to focus more specifically, in designing its development programmes, on issues of accountability and transparency, as weak accountability mechanisms tend to facilitate corruption;

2.  Stresses that increased attention should be paid to the role of civil society in fostering good governance and voluntary control of corruption;

3.  Recalls that under the amended Cotonou Partnership Agreement serious cases of corruption can lead to consultations in accordance with Articles 96 and 97 of the Agreement;

4.  Stresses the need to support national parliaments in developing countries in their work as budget authorities by means of dialogue, information-sharing and capacity-building;

5.  Stresses the important role that a free and independent media can play in the fight against corruption and calls for greater EU support for projects assisting or strengthening such media in partner countries;

6.  Stresses the need to contribute to building and strengthening the legal system in those countries;

7.  Underlines the important role played by women also in the fight against corruption and emphasises therefore the need for more and better education of women and girls and for promoting of the involvement of women in politics;

8.  Supports the "Publish What You Pay" campaign that calls for multinationals to disclose information about payments to governments;

9.  Stresses the importance of investment in the developing countries and encourages the Commission and the Member States to assist the flow of such investment;

10.  Stresses the importance of the establishment of watchdogs by civil society in developing countries, requiring a system of checks and balances of their government; calls on the Commission to support this process by reserving an appropriate percentage of budget aid for civil society watchdogs;

11.  Considers that the internal organisation often has to change in order to tackle corruption; emphasises the need for capacity-building in central and local institutions to combat corruption, especially in the light of the increase in aid given in the form of budget aid;

12.  Stresses that the granting of budget aid must always be carefully preceded by fiduciary risk assessments on a case-by-case basis;

13.  Stresses that budget aid should always be earmarked for a specific sector;

14.  Emphasises that any budget aid that is granted should be accompanied by a policy dialogue aimed at improving Public Financial Management (PFM), reducing the risk of corruption or mismanagement of funds;

15.  Calls for more transparency in programmes for budget aid granted by the EU, including publication of the relevant information about the aid spent in the recipient country, and by involving parliaments and informing civil players in this process;

16.  Calls for support for efficient budget tracking through Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) by civil society and national parliaments which clearly measures "inputs" against "outputs" under the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) criteria;

17.  Considers that specific social indicators should be devised for the purpose of obtaining more precise data on the quality of governance achieved by the countries in question and calls for civil society to be more extensively involved in this area;

18.  Calls on the EU, as co-chair of the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Programme (PEFA), which provides a harmonized framework for assessing fiduciary risk in recipient countries, to include specific indicators to measure the level of corruption;

19.  Calls on the Commission to use these levels of corruption as tracked to support good governance and take adequate measures against corrupt regimes;

20.  Urges the Commission to consider decisions to reduce the external debt of developing countries;

21.  Stresses the need for international donors closely to coordinate their activities in the field of budget aid with a view to enhancing transparency and accountability in the recipient country;

22.  Urges all Member States as well as all countries signatories to the 2003 UN Convention against Corruption to ratify the Convention and the 1997 OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions;

23.  Invites the Members of the OECD to consider the possibility of admitting Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta as full participants in the Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions, which would allow them to sign and ratify the 1997 OECD Convention and invites these countries, in the meantime, to seek wider participation in the Revised Recommendation of the OECD Ministerial Council of 23 May 1997 on Combating Bribery in International Business Transactions;

24.  Recalls the important role of regional initiatives in curbing corruption and promoting good governance such as the African Peer Review Mechanism; underlines the need for African countries to implement these initiatives and for the Commission and the Member States to provide technical and financial assistance for this purpose;

25.  Calls on Member States to promote a legally binding international instrument on the tracing and the marking of SALW and ammunition as soon as possible, as well as to support regional initiatives to combat the illicit trade in SALW and their ammunition in the developing countries;

26.  Calls for further enforcement of and commitment to the "Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative" in order to ensure the disclosure of information about payments between governments of developing countries and multinationals;

27.  Calls on Member States with financial centres to take all necessary legal and administrative action to ensure that illicitly acquired funds can be repatriated to the State of origin; stresses furthermore the need for capacity-building, concentrating on preventing the theft of assets and the misuse and misappropriation of public funds;

28.  Urges the Commission and the Member States to establish an international system of blacklisting to prevent banks from lending large sums of money to corrupt regimes or individuals representing a government;

29.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ban public purchasing or procurement contracts with companies whose employees have been involved in corrupt activities with government ministers or officials or in any other way within a developing country, if those employees are not subject to disciplinary proceedings; further calls on the Member States to refer such cases to the appropriate prosecution authorities, so that such people will be investigated and brought to trial, if they have a case to answer;

30.  Stresses that there are major corruption risks involved in public procurement procedures and that, consequently, transparent procurement rules and procedures should be promoted as a key priority;

31.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

(1) OJ C 46, 24.2.2006, p.1. (2) OJ L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 3. (3) OJ C 67 E, 17.3.2004, p. 255. (4) OJ C 103 E, 29.4.2004, p. 550.