The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body – Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) – published a report about the efforts of Armenia to comply with the Council of Europe’s recommendations in the fields of incriminations and transparency of political funding.
The document was approved during the 66th plenary session of GRECO that was held in Strasbourg on December 8-12.
GRECO concluded that Armenia has now implemented satisfactorily or dealt with in a satisfactory manner all nineteen recommendations contained in the Third Round Evaluation Report, and congratulates Armenia on the substantial reforms carried out to do this.
The document says new legislation will need to be further scrutinised, and possibly adjusted by the authorities, to ensure that it is effectively applied in practice.
The report said Armenia adopted a new Election Code, along with amendments to the Law on Political Parties as well as to the Code of Administrative Offences. In addition, transparency and reporting had improved as regards the financing of political parties as well as in respect of election campaigns.
“ Measures regarding donations to prevent circumvention of the rules on campaign financing and spending limits had been adjusted to encourage accurate accounting and common formats of reporting. Supervision had been reinforced to with the introduction of a compulsory audit for the bigger parties and the establishment of a permanent Oversight and Audit Service next to the Central Electoral Commission,” the report reads.