Retsudvalget 2024-25
REU Alm.del Bilag 167
Offentligt
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Adoption: 22 November 2024
Confidential
GrecoRC4(2024)19
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FOURTH EVALUATION ROUND
Corruption prevention in respect of members of
parliament, judges and prosecutors
FOURTH
INTERIM
COMPLIANCE REPORT
DENMARK
Adopted by GRECO at its 98 Plenary Meeting
(Strasbourg, 18-22 November 2024)
th
GRECO Secretariat
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
+33 3 88 41 20 00
www.coe.int/greco
Directorate General I
Human Rights and Rule of Law
Directorate of Security, Integrity
and Rule of Law
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I.
1.
INTRODUCTION
The
Fourth Round Evaluation Report on Denmark
was adopted at GRECO’s
63
rd
Plenary meeting (28 March 2014) and made public on 16 April 2014, following
authorisation by Denmark. GRECO addressed in total six recommendations to
Denmark.
The
Compliance Report
was adopted by GRECO at its 71
st
Plenary meeting (18 March
2016) and made public on 15 April 2016, following the authorisation by the Danish
authorities.
The
Second Compliance Report
was adopted by GRECO at its 80
th
Plenary meeting
(22 June 2018) and made public on 12 September 2018, following the authorisation
by the Danish authorities. GRECO concluded in this Report that the low level of
compliance was “globally unsatisfactory” in the meaning of Rule 31, paragraph 8.3
of its Rules of Procedure. GRECO therefore decided to apply Rule 32 concerning
members not found to be compliant with the recommendations contained in the
mutual evaluation report.
The
Interim Compliance Report
was adopted by GRECO at its 84
th
Plenary meeting
(6 December 2019) and made public on 5 February 2020, following the authorisation
by the Danish authorities. In this report, GRECO noted that Denmark had fully
complied with the two recommendations concerning
“Corruption
prevention in
respect of judges and prosecutors”,
while the very low level of compliance with the
recommendations
concerning “Corruption prevention in respect of members of
parliament”
remained
“globally unsatisfactory” in the meaning of Rule 31, paragraph
8.3 of its Rules of Procedure.
In the
Second Interim Compliance Report,
adopted by GRECO at its 88th plenary
meeting (22 September 2021) and made public on 25 November 2021, it was
concluded that Denmark had made no progress in implementing the four
recommendations concerning members of parliament contained in the Fourth Round
Evaluation Report. Out of six recommendations in total, only two had been
implemented satisfactorily, while three were partly implemented and one not
implemented. GRECO therefore concluded that the level of compliance with the
recommendations remained “globally unsatisfactory” within the meaning of Rule 31
paragraph 8.3 of the Rules of Procedure. In accordance with Rule 32, paragraph 2,
subparagraph ii.b), GRECO called on the President of the Statutory Committee to
send a letter to the Permanent Representative of Denmark to the Council of Europe
drawing his attention to non-compliance with the relevant recommendations and the
need to take resolute steps to achieve tangible progress as soon as possible.
In the
Third Interim Compliance Report,
adopted by GRECO at its 93
rd
plenary
meeting (24 March 2023) and made public on 10 August 2023, it was concluded that
the very low level of compliance with the recommendations, remained
“globally
unsatisfactory” in the meaning of Rule 31,
paragraph 8.3 of its Rules of Procedure.
In accordance with Rule 32, paragraph 2(ii) (c) GRECO invited the Secretary General
of the Council of Europe to send a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark,
drawing the attention to non-compliance with the relevant recommendations.
GRECO therefore decided to continue to apply Rule 32 concerning members found
not to be in compliance with the recommendations contained in the mutual evaluation
report and asked the Head of the Danish delegation to provide a report on the
progress made by 31 March 2024.
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8.
On 26 August 2024, the authorities of Denmark submitted a Situation Report on
further measures taken to implement the pending recommendations. This
information served as a basis for this Fourth Interim Compliance Report.
GRECO selected the United Kingdom to appoint a Rapporteur for the compliance
procedure
(in respect of “Corruption
prevention in respect of members of
parliament”).
The Rapporteur appointed was Ms Fariha KHAN. She was assisted by
GRECO’s Secretariat in drawing up this
Fourth Interim Compliance Report.
ANALYSIS
9.
II.
Corruption prevention in respect of members of parliament
10.
It is recalled that GRECO addressed four recommendations to Denmark in its
Evaluation Report in respect of members of parliament. Compliance with these
recommendations is dealt with below.
Recommendation i to iv
11.
GRECO recommended:
•
that a code of conduct for members of parliament
–
including, inter alia,
guidance on the prevention of conflicts of interest, on questions concerning
gifts and other advantages and on how to deal with third parties seeking to
obtain undue influence on MPs’ work –
be adopted and made easily accessible
to the public; and (ii) that it be complemented by practical measures for its
implementation, such as dedicated training or counselling;
that a requirement of ad hoc disclosure be introduced when a conflict between
the private interests of individual members of parliament may emerge in
relation to a matter under consideration in parliamentary proceedings;
that regular public registration of occupations and financial interests by
members of parliament be made mandatory; (ii) that the existing system be
further developed, in particular, by including quantitative data on the
occupations and financial interests of members of parliament as well as data
on significant liabilities; and (iii) that consideration be given to widening the
scope of the declarations to also include information on spouses and
dependent family members (it being understood that such information would
not necessarily need to be made public);
that appropriate measures be taken to ensure supervision and enforcement
of i) the rules on registration of the occupations and financial interests by
members of parliament and ii) standards of conduct applicable to them, where
necessary.
•
•
•
12.
It is recalled that in the Third Interim Compliance report, it was assessed that
recommendations i, iii and iv had been partly implemented and recommendation ii
had not been implemented. At that stage, the Danish authorities did not report
anything new in respect of the implementation of these recommendations.
The Danish authorities inform GRECO that the legal regime applicable to members of
parliament remains unchanged and that there is nothing new to report in this respect.
In the absence of any developments, GRECO concludes that recommendations i, iii
and iv remain partly implemented and recommendation ii remains not implemented.
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III. CONCLUSIONS
15.
In view of the foregoing, GRECO concludes that there has been no progress
in Denmark’s
level of implementation of the
four recommendations
concerning members of parliament contained in the Fourth Round
Evaluation Report. Out of six recommendations in total, only two have been
implemented satisfactorily
(concerning judges and prosecutors, as noted in
previous reports), three remain only partly implemented and one not implemented
(all pending recommendations in respect of members of parliament).
More specifically, recommendations i, iii and iv remain partly implemented and
recommendation ii remains not implemented.
GRECO regrets that the outstanding recommendations regarding MPs remain
unresolved. A Code of Conduct for members of parliament must be issued and
coupled with counselling, awareness-raising, and supervision measures. The public
registration system of occupations and financial interests of MPs needs to be further
developed.
In view of the above, GRECO cannot but again conclude that the current very low
level of compliance with the recommendations
remains “globally unsatisfactory”
within the meaning of Rule 31, paragraph 8.3 of its Rules of Procedure.
Pursuant to Rule 32, paragraph 2(i) of the Rules of Procedure, GRECO asks the Head
of the Danish delegation to provide a report on the progress made in implementing
recommendations i-iv by 30 November 2025 at the latest.
In addition, in accordance with Rule 32, paragraph 2(ii) (c) GRECO invites the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe to send a letter
–
with a copy to the Head
of delegation of Denmark
–
to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, drawing
the attention to non-compliance with the relevant recommendations and the need to
take determined action with a view to achieving tangible progress as soon as possible.
GRECO recalls that, in the framework of the Fifth-Round compliance procedure, in
accordance with Rule 32 revised, paragraph 2, subparagraph (iii), the authorities of
Denmark will receive a high-level mission with a view to reinforcing the importance
of complying with the outstanding Fifth Round recommendations. In this connection,
GRECO considers that, owing to Denmark’s “globally unsatisfactory” compliance level
with the Fourth-Round recommendations since June 2018, the importance of
complying with those outstanding recommendations should be emphasised at that
same high-level mission, in accordance with Rule 32, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph
(iii).
Finally, GRECO invites the authorities of Denmark to authorise, as soon as possible,
the publication of the report, to translate the report into the national language and
to make this translation public.
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