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13
International perception of corruption in Spain grows, now worse than in Rwanda or Saudi Arabia (www.majorcadailybulletin.com)
submitted 9 hours ago by tardigrade@scribe.disroot.org to c/europe@feddit.org
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Spain has fallen for the fifth consecutive year in the corruption perception index compiled by international experts, down one point from 2024 (from a score of 56 to 55 in the world ranking) and once again placing it below countries such as Rwanda (58) and Saudi Arabia (57), which are authoritarian regimes.

According to Transparency International, which presented its annual report for 2025 in Madrid on Tuesday, Spain has been one of the European countries where the perception of corruption has grown the most, along with Bulgaria, in a turbulent year for the PSOE and the government due to the Koldo case, which has led to the imprisonment of, among others, former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos and his former adviser Koldo García, as well as the former secretary of organisation of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, who has been released pending trial.

...

Another finding highlighted by the analysis is that among the countries that have improved the most in terms of the perception of corruption since 2012 are Greece (up 14 points to 50) and the Czech Republic (up 10 points to 59). In contrast, Spain is among the countries that have fallen the most since 2012, down a total of ten points to its current score of 55, along with Malta, which has fallen eight points to 49.

One case that experts highlight is that of the United Kingdom (70), which has fallen 12 places since 2017. Also noteworthy are the efforts made over the last decade by Estonia (76), Latvia (60) and Lithuania (65) and their commitment to opening up government and undertaking anti-corruption reforms, although they warn that gaps remain, particularly with regard to the transparency of lobbies, the protection of whistleblowers and clarity in party financing.

...

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[–] OrganicMustard@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

Perception of corruption by who knows what sample is a useless metric.

Checked the OP and looks like some propaganda troll .

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 hour ago

Yes, it's a sockpuppet troll with many accounts. This is one of the newer ones.

[–] OrganicMustard@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

You can see here actual corruption, in red the present government party and in blue the main opposition party.

[–] verdi@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 4 points 7 hours ago

That index is completely and utter useless as it's based on perception. Denmark is one of the most corrupt European countries, but, given the local culture accepts nepotism as normal, people don't perceive it as corruption, whereas in Spain and Portugal, pretty low on that index, it's scandalous and features on newspapers.

[–] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Czechia rising is suspicious. All right-wing radicals are corrupt, that is a fact.

That said, Spain must indeed address corruption. But to be placed lower than Rwanda and Saudi Arabia? Bullshit, authoritarian regimes are the epitome of corruption. When someone has all the power...

[–] bossito@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago

You need freedom and democracy in order to freely perceive corruption, these rankings comparing incomparable countries are always a bit silly.

Often big corruption trials (so effective fight against corruption producing results) lead to an increase of perceived corruption.. but there's hardly any other way of comparing it.

[–] doleo@lemmy.one 7 points 9 hours ago

corruption perception index compiled by international experts

🤔

[–] Suntzee@feddit.uk 4 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

This news is tweaked to just point the goverment. The truth is that the whole system, including justice system and the opposing political party, Partido Popular, are rotten to their f£√π®¥[ing core. Together, they are trying to take the goverment down at all cost by using the awful acts of some individuals that were fired at day 1, while they keep politicians that are truly related to negligences that have costs thousands of lives during the COVID outbreak, for instance.

[–] tardigrade@scribe.disroot.org 2 points 8 hours ago

This news comes from an international NGO. Spain's opposition and former ruling party may be as corrupt as the socialists, but pointing the finger to them now seems odd. The corruption scandals in Sanchez's private and political environment are well known.