News item | 2023-02-20 | 4:30 pm
Today, Minister Bruins Slot shared the government’s response to the findings of the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) with the House of Representatives. In it, she explained the steps taken by the government in response to GRECO’s recommendations.
GRECO is part of the Council of Europe, which monitors the corruption risks of its members. They share their findings in evaluation reports and ask about their status in the Member States concerned. In their latest evaluation report, the fifth since its inception, GRECO focused on developments in the field of anti-corruption and promotion of integrity towards government officials. The Minister informed GRECO of the most recent steps in this area.
In December, the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations submitted a bill for public consultation, limiting the ‘revolving door’ for ministers. This bill with rules for former ministers also lays down the prohibition on lobbying. The bill also contains a cooling-off period of two years, during which former ministers must request advice from an advisory committee when taking a new step in their career.
The code of conduct for ministers was also adopted in December 2022 and the minister is working on a government response to the recently published advice of Prof. dr. Braun on the introduction of a lobby register.
Minister Bruins Slot: “Promoting integrity and trust are important aspects for a resilient democracy. We need to get these things right. I am working on that and will continue to work on it. Because it not only requires rules and codes of conduct, but it also involves attitude and behaviour. Further steps have been taken in this direction in the past period, and I would like to continue a dialogue with GRECO on this”.
In addition to these developments, the government’s response to the GRECO report also addressed the promotion of integrity at the National Police and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. Based on the progress information, GRECO prepares a compliance report. This report will be discussed and adopted at the GRECO plenary meeting in June 2023.
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