General principles of combating corruption in the countries of the Visegrad Four: the experience of the Czech Republic

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the general principles of combating corruption in the territory of the Czech Republic. The fight against corruption, according to the Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic, is a long-term process that requires the cooperation of all elements of the public administration system and includes prevention activities, transparency of all processes and the imposition of sanctions for violations. The purpose of the article is to study the experience of implementing anti-corruption activities on the territory of one of the countries of the Visegrad Group, namely the Czech Republic, establishing the path taken by the Czech Republic in the field of prevention and countering corruption, building its anti-corruption bodies, forming a strategy and clarifying the possibility of taking into account certain aspects in the activities of state bodies authorities and local self-government of Ukraine.

As a result of the study, the place of the Czech Republic and Ukraine in the global rating of corruption perception in 2021 has been clarified. The definition of corruption in Ukraine and the Czech Republic has been given. The nature of the activity of the Visegrad Group as an institutional organization has been outlined. It has been determined that it is customary to distinguish three time periods of the Czech Republic's development on the way to overcoming corruption.

The priority areas of combating corruption, determined by the government of the Czech Republic and enshrined in the Anti-corruption agenda, have been considered, including: creation of an independent, efficient, professional, integrated and corruption-resistant state administration; transparency and efficiency of the decision-making process and the legislative process; regulation of the system of free access to information, etc. There are two groups of main state and non-state organizations in the Czech Republic whose activities are aimed at preventing and combating corruption: 1) those engaged in analytical and investigative activities; 2) those that carry out preventive, educational and coordination activities. The first group includes the Police of the Czech Republic, the General Inspectorate of Security Forces, the Prosecutor's Office of the Czech Republic, and the Financial and Analytical Unit of the Ministry of Finance. The second group includes the Anti-Corruption Commission of the Police of the Czech Republic, the Ombudsman of the Police of the Czech Republic and the Fire and Rescue Corps of the Czech Republic, the State Defender of Rights in the Czech Republic, the Institute of Public Administration in Prague, etc.

It has been concluded that it is necessary to promote the role of the public in the field of control over anti-corruption activities and the possibility to take as a basis the experience of the functioning of public initiatives of the Czech Republic.