THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS A RESOLUTION ON THE FUTURE EU ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGY

On 8 October, the European Parliament’s plenary adopted a resolution on the first European anti-corruption strategy. With this vote, Parliament submitted its political contribution to the European Commission ahead of the strategy’s presentation, scheduled for the end of 2026.

The initiative was prepared in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), chaired by Javier Zarzalejos. In June, LIBE held an exchange with the European Commission’s Director-General for Justice, Ana Gallego, on the objectives of the future strategy. In parallel, an oral question to the Commission, accompanied by a plenary debate and resolution, was initiated to enable Parliament to set out its principal priorities.

Negotiations between the political groups led to a text supported by a large majority in LIBE on 14 July. In his capacity as Chair and as the committee’s institutional representative, Zarzalejos presented the agreed position.

The resolution ultimately adopted in October calls for a common strategy combining prevention, effective enforcement of the rules and stronger safeguards for integrity in public life. Its priorities include greater transparency, improved rules on conflicts of interest, political financing and revolving doors, and more robust public procurement procedures. It also calls for safeguards against amnesties and pardons in corruption cases and warns against measures that would allow anti-corruption obligations to be circumvented, such as changes to limitation periods or insufficient resources for specialised units.

Parliament also calls for the independence of judges and prosecutors to be protected and for closer cooperation between national authorities, Europol, Eurojust, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the European Anti-Fraud Office. The aim is to improve corruption investigations, facilitate the recovery of proceeds of crime and protect European public funds.

The future strategy should complement the EU anti-corruption directive, in force since May 2026, and address risks associated with organised crime and new technologies. The vote on 8 October therefore establishes Parliament’s priorities to guide the strategy’s development and subsequent implementation.