The European Parliament this week adopted a directive creating the first EU-level coordinated criminal regulation system for preventing and combating corruption, reported LETA by the press secretary of the European Parliament in Latvia, Kristine Liepina.
The directive, on which the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a preliminary agreement in December 2025, establishes unified definitions of corruption-related crimes and agreed punishment rules. These include bribery, embezzlement, obstruction of justice, influence peddling, abuse of office, illicit enrichment related to corruption, as well as corruption in the private sector. The directive was approved with 581 votes in favor, 21 against, and 42 abstentions.
By modernizing existing norms, unifying legal definitions, and introducing a structured system of sanctions, the new regulation aims to address gaps in law enforcement, particularly in cross-border cases. The sanctions system is based on maximum penalties established at the EU level, meaning that the maximum sanctions provided for by national legislation cannot be too low. At the same time, member states will retain the ability to apply stricter norms and adapt the rules to their legal systems.
The directive will enhance cooperation between national authorities and EU structures, including the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the European Public Prosecutor's Office, Europol, and Eurojust, as well as improve information exchange and coordination. Member states will also be required to publish comparable machine-readable data annually to increase transparency and evidence-based policymaking.
To strengthen prevention and management, member states will need to adopt and regularly update national anti-corruption strategies involving civil society. They will also need to conduct risk assessments and ensure sustainable systems for regulating conflicts of interest, transparency in political financing, and standards of integrity. Additionally, specialized and sufficiently independent structures must be established to prevent and combat corruption.
The directive must be officially approved by the Council of the EU and will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the EU. After that, member states will have 24 months to implement it, except for provisions on risk assessment and national strategies, which have a deadline of 36 months.
The European Commission presented a package to combat corruption on May 3, 2023. Based on the provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, corruption is defined in the text as an area of "particularly serious crimes with a cross-border dimension," and it includes measures for its prevention and combat. According to a 2025 Eurobarometer survey, 69% of Europeans believe that corruption is widespread in their country, and 66% think that high-level corruption is not adequately countered.
