In mid-October, the annual EPAC/EACN Conference took place in Budva, Montenegro, bringing together representatives of European anti-corruption and police oversight bodies, including representatives of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau of Latvia (KNAB).
At the conference, David Meyer, President of the Council of Europe’s Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO), highlighted a key challenge for European anti-corruption policy: although the legal frameworks for preventing corruption are already in place, their existence alone does not guarantee effective results in practice.
The GRECO President also emphasised the need to move beyond formal compliance towards effective preventive mechanisms, to strengthen integrity at all levels of public authority, and to develop a coherent system in which corruption prevention and enforcement complement one another.
KNAB supports this approach. During the conference, KNAB representatives shared Latvia’s experience in applying a risk-based approach to combating corruption and in implementing preventive measures arising from identified corruption risks.
This approach is also reflected in a draft law developed by KNAB, which envisages a shift from a detailed system of prohibitions and restrictions towards a risk-based model for managing integrity and conflicts of interest.
The reform aims to strengthen the capacity of public administration institutions to identify and mitigate corruption and conflict-of-interest risks at an early stage, while also increasing the responsibility of institutional leaders for ensuring effective internal control systems and integrity-based governance.
A risk-based approach does not mean abandoning clear rules or accountability for violations. Rather, it means applying proportionate and targeted control mechanisms, with particular attention to positions and situations exposed to higher risks.
The message delivered by the GRECO President also highlights another important prerequisite: integrity requirements must first and foremost be effective where decision-making power and responsibility are concentrated. This is precisely the direction of the reform initiated by KNAB, and its successful implementation will represent an important step towards strengthening Latvia’s public-sector integrity framework.
Latvia’s next challenge is to ensure that integrity in public administration is not merely an obligation defined in legislation, but an everyday governance practice whose effectiveness can be assessed.
EPAC – European Partners against Corruption – is an independent forum bringing together anti-corruption authorities and police oversight bodies from Council of Europe member states. EACN is the European Union’s network of national anti-corruption contact points.