Corruption in Europe is "breathtaking" and costs the EU economy about £99bn annually, the European Commission says today.
The first such report said that procurement of public works contracts and political party financing were particular areas of concern. Cecilia Malmstroem, the EU Home Affairs Commissioner, said corruption was eroding trust in democracy and draining resources from the legal economy. The fruits of such distrust were on display in France yesterday as thousands of people from a new populist movement Demo for All took to the streets. Labelling it the French version of the Tea Party, Manuel Valls, the interior minister, said it was a "revolt of the antis: anti-elite, anti-state, anti-tax, anti-parliament, anti-journalists … but also and above all, antisemites, racists and homophobes".
