Entitled "Does Lithuania Want Political Transparency?," the report is an extensive review of the political platforms of Lithuania's political parties. In effect, they have pushed the parties into taking a stand. With a few minor exceptions, none of them had made public statements as to how or what they intended to do to promote greater political transparency.
The organization's report argues that corruption is the biggest roadblock to Lithuania's accession to the European Union and that politicians "did not give the problem much attention in the last parliamentary elections."
Lithuania's Transparency International Chairman Aleksandras Dobryninas recently told reporters that the fall 2000 elections were an ideal time for observing how Lithuanian politicians and citizens felt about corruption and related issues.
Dobryninas said the study on anti-corruption initiatives by the most influential political parties showed the parties' lack a systematic position regarding corruption as well as a concrete strategy for attacking corruption.
According to Arturas Paulauskas' New Union/Social Liberal party, the problem is endemic and "many public officials have done grave damage to the population by abusing their positions." The party urges extensive legal reforms in this area as "the present fight (against corruption) is not effective."
Rolandas Paksas' Liberals said that they would reduce bureaucracy in police departments at all levels so that "the job of a police officer would be not to punish, but assist Lithuanian citizens in all aspects of their lives." They also said that Lithuania needs fewer taxes and duties in order to achieve better transparency.
The new Social Democratic coalition of Algirdas Brazauskas had little to say on the issue and presented a vague, single-sentence response saying only that the battle against organized crime and government corruption has to be more active and that Lithuania needs more international assistance to combat the problem.
Vytautas Landsbergis' Conservative party stressed that the funding of political parties has to be more open and that better monitoring of lobbying groups is needed.
Transparency International conducts public opinion surveys in many countries to determine how the average person perceives corruption. They publish the "Corruption Perceptions Index," which ranks major countries in the world, including the Baltic countries. In the 2000 survey, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, New Zealand and Canada ranked as the least corrupt, according to their inhabitants. Estonia was 27th.
Lithuania tied for 50th place with Jamaica and South Korea, while Latvia was 58th, together with China, Belarus, Mexico and Senegal.
In its Lithuania report, only 7 percent of Lithuanians felt that the party they voted for in the last elections would do something about corruption. A 68 percent majority felt political parties are corrupt or very corrupt, and 63 percent felt the government they voted for is corrupt.
But there were other, more hopeful indicators showing that the country's inhabitants do wish to see reforms. Only 13 percent believe that the problem is absolutely hopeless and that nothing can be done about it.
Forty-one percent believe that corruption needs to be fought using the most aggressive means possible.
The report also asked Lithuanians which institutions were the most honest. The Catholic Church ranked highest, with 40 percent saying it was not corrupt in any way. Ten percent said the same of the media.
The worst institutions, according to Lithuanians, were the Customs Department (47 percent believe it to be thoroughly corrupt), the courts (27 percent) and the police (26 percent). Parliament, the prosecutor general's office, large companies and government bureaucrats were not far behind.
The TI report concluded, "Lithuanians believe that the very institutions that are supposed to be battling corruption are themselves the most corrupt."
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