According to experts' data, corruption in Western Europe and the European Union is worsening, and this is the first time it has worsened in more than a decade, writes Euronews.

Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) surveyed 180 countries and territories according to their perceived levels of corruption in the public sector on a scale of zero (very corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

According to the report, experts and business people find that the least corrupt country in the world is Denmark, closely followed by Finland and New Zealand in second and third place, respectively.

Despite placing well in the overall list, several high-ranking democracies, such as Sweden (82), the Netherlands (79), Iceland (72) and the United Kingdom (71), recorded their lowest scores ever in the annual CPI.

"The decline in the regional CPI score in Western Europe and the EU shows that European governments need to take the fight against corruption and respect the rule of law more seriously," said Flora Cresswell, Transparency International's Western Europe Regional Coordinator.

Anti-corruption efforts have either stagnated or declined in more than three-quarters of countries in the region, according to Transparency International.

"Restoring checks and balances leaves the door open for corruption," she said. "Countries must raise their standards and better enforce their own rules to strengthen anti-corruption efforts, protecting the justice system from interference and backing up powerful interest groups in politics."

The countries with the best results are Denmark (90), Finland (87) and Norway (84), while the lowest ranked are Hungary (42), Romania (46) and Bulgaria (45).

Of the 31 countries in this region, only six countries have significantly improved their score since 2012: the Czech Republic (57), Estonia (76), Greece (49), Latvia (60), Italy (56) and Ireland (77).

Compared to their 2015 results, Austria (71), Luxembourg (78), Sweden (82) and the United Kingdom (71) all weakened significantly in this fight.

Poland, 54, also saw a seven-point decline over the past decade due to "efforts by the previous ruling PiS party to monopolize power at the expense of the public interest," the report said. It is also noted that Greece (49) scored very low on the 2023 list due to weak judicial independence.

However, even top-scoring countries have trouble preventing corruption in the public sector, according to the report, noting that they "have a poor record in prosecuting companies that pay bribes to win foreign markets."

The report highlights a case in the Netherlands (79), where authorities have faced criticism for choosing not to prosecute Shell in a Nigerian oil bribery case, particularly in light of shock acquittals in Italy in the same case.

Transparency International also refers to the recently proposed EU anti-corruption directive, which, if adopted, would require member states to "criminalize foreign demand-side bribery".

Some EU countries have already criminalized both the supply and demand sides of foreign bribery. However, they rarely – if ever – move against foreign officials.

Some of the most notorious corruption scandals in recent history involve money laundering through banks in EU countries such as Denmark (90), Germany (78) and Sweden (82). The failure of their governments to supervise banks adequately is one of the reasons why a new anti-money laundering authority is working at the EU level.

Examining mainly African cases of cross-border corruption, the report also found that Switzerland (82), although a high scorer, still struggles with its status as a money-laundering center, where corrupt foreign elites can easily find intermediaries to create and manage with companies and trusts for them.

However, recently proposed legislation aims to extend anti-money laundering obligations to lawyers and other professionals to prevent it.