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SPANISH POLITICAL PARTIES ASSUME SOME COMMITMENTS AGAINST CORRUPTION WHILE SHOWING A LOW LEVEL OF TRANSPARENCY

The main political parties have assumed (and signed) a Commitment for transparency and against corruption before the European elections, asked by Transparency International Spain, and they have shown a favorable electoral position on a set of twelve anti-corruption measures proposed by Transparency International Spain; moreover, they have generally a low level of transparency relative to ten indicators evaluated by Transparency International Spain, obtaining a score of less than 5 out of 10 points.

These are in short the results from the evaluation that Transparency International Spain has made over the positioning and level of commitment of the main Spanish political parties in relation to corruption, and level of transparency of these organizations. To this effect has been evaluated the ten principal Spanish political Parties: PP, PSOE, Izquierda Unida, UPyD, PNV, Coalición Canaria, Esquerra Republicana, Convergencia y Unió, Ciudadans, and Equo.

This evaluation is based on three fundamental aspects:

a) Signature of a Commitment for transparency and against corruption before the European Elections: It has been signed and sent to Transparency International Spain by the generality of the parties. The fact that the parties have agreed to sign a common text for transparency and against corruption is a significant event that has no precedents in Spain. If the parties have come to sign a separate commitment to transparency and against corruption, now they have a social obligation to reach a collective Commitment or Pact that would be wide and with concrete and conclusive measures, as demanded by citizens, and without being asked by civil society. (1.Overview of Commitments signed. 2.Commitments signed by each of the Parties).

b) A basic assessment of the level of transparency of the parties, based on the ten indicators proposed by Transparency International Spain, arising from Anti-corruption Seminars organized by this institution a few months ago. The level of transparency of the parties has been generally quite low (less than 5 out of 10 for most of them, including the two major parties: PP and PSOE), although they have improved from when Transparency International Spain sent their provisional assessments. (Detailed table of transparency level of political parties).

The parties that have obtained higher scores have publicly expressed their satisfaction, while some of the parties that have obtained the lowest scores have expressed their concern to Transparency International Spain, and its intention to increase in their future level of transparency and openness.

c) The electoral position related to twelve measures against corruption proposed by Transparency International Spain. The general level of acceptance of these proposals has been quite high by the majority of the political parties. Transparency International Spain will monitor if the parties are fulfilling their commitments against corruption and if they are incorporating into their Electoral Programs these measures proposed by Transparency International Spain. (Detailed table of electoral position of the parties).

Most of the measures of transparency and corruption, which Transparency International Spain has consulted to the parties, had previously consulted with citizens in a macro survey that Transparency International Spain commissioned and published in the newspaper El País on 1 April 2014, which showed the massive desire of citizens for political parties to adopt such measures.

The information presented may be useful for citizens and Spanish society to know more about political parties and its position on transparency and corruption, as well to know the commitments with these organizations have assumed before European elections.

Detailed information on the results of this evaluation can be found on the website of Transparency International Spain: http://www.transparencia.org.es/VERSION_ENGLISH/index-english.htm


For any press enquiries please contact

Jesús Lizcano Alvarez, TI-Spain Chairman

E: [email protected]
T:+34 91 700 4105
W: http://www.transparencia.org.es/