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New EU–LAC Alliance Offers Hope in the Fight Against Corruption but Action Must Follow Words

Transparency International welcomes the new commitment to promote citizen security made by leaders at the fourth CELAC–EU Summit, but urges all signatories to follow through on their commitment

Berlin — Transparency International applauds the establishment of a European Union, Latin American and Caribbean (EU-LAC) Alliance for Citizen Security. The Alliance commits to tackling corruption, illicit financial flows, and transnational organised crime.

The declaration, endorsed by the European Union and eighteen Latin American and Caribbean countries, recognises that strengthening anti-corruption, integrity and transparency policies is fundamental to safeguarding human rights, governance, and the fight against organised crime. It also further commits to support national and regional efforts “to prevent and fight corruption in all its forms,” strengthen financial intelligence and asset recovery mechanisms, and enhance regional and global cooperation against illicit financial flows and money laundering.

“With this declaration, leaders from the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean have taken an important step in recognising the economic and social harm caused by illicit financial flows and corruption”, said Luciana Torchiaro, Transparency International Regional Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, “what matters now is turning the Alliance for Citizen Security into delivering coordinated, concrete action that prioritizes the fight against corruption”.

Transparency International regrets that eleven EU-CELAC members attending its recent Summit did not endorse the declaration and urges all countries to follow through on its anti-corruption commitments on the road to the Fifth EU-CELAC Summit, scheduled for 2027.

To ensure the Alliance delivers real results, Transparency International calls on EU-CELAC leaders to:

  • Strengthen beneficial ownership transparency for all types of companies, as well as for trusts, other legal arrangements, and categories of assets favoured by the corrupt. These registers should be centralised, interoperable, and properly enforced;
  • Enhance the regulation and supervision of professional service providers with respect to preventing and combatting corruption and illicit financial flows;
  • Properly resource and improve the practical ability of EU-CELAC Financial Intelligence Units to analyse data, share information, and act on red flags.
  • Support cross-border investigative and asset recovery efforts with adequate resources.
  • Provide political backing and protection to judges, prosecutors, whistleblowers, civil society organisations and journalists investigating and reporting corruption cases.