64% of Europeans think corruption is unacceptable
27% think it is acceptable to give a gift or do a favour (26%) in order to get something from a public administration or a public service, while 16% think it is acceptable to give money for this reason.
Seven out of ten respondents believe that corruption is prevalent in their country. 74% think there is corruption in the national public institutions in their country, while 73% think there is corruption in the local or regional public institutions in their country. 78% agree that too close links between business and politics lead to corruption. 60% think that corruption is part of the business culture in their country, while 57% agree that in their country the only way to succeed in business is to have political connections.
54% say they do not know where to report corruption if they were to experience or observe it: respondents are most likely to know where to report a corruption case in Malta (63%) and Slovenia (62%), and least likely in Poland (32%) and Hungary (33%). 47% say the difficulty in proving corruption is an important reason people do not report it. Three in ten say reporting it would be pointless because those responsible will not be punished, while almost as many (28%) say there is no protection for those who report corruption.
Respondents are pessimistic about national efforts to combat corruption. Only a minority think measures against corruption are applied impartially and without ulterior motives (35%), that there are enough successful prosecutions to deter people from corrupt practices (32%), that their national government’s efforts to combat corruption are effective (30%) or that there is sufficient transparency and supervision of the financing of political parties in their country (29%).