EU study ranks Georgia ahead of candidate and several member states in corruption freedom index, Gov’t Administration Head

The European Union has published a study indicating that Georgia ranks ahead of all EU candidate countries and several EU member states in the corruption freedom index, Head of the Georgian Government Administration Levan Zhorzholiani said.

Zhorzholiani noted the ranking placed Georgia above EU member states including Greece, Italy, Slovenia and Slovakia.

He attributed the result to reforms and policy decisions implemented by the Georgian government in recent years.

Zhorzholiani pointed to what he described as intensified efforts by the Prosecutor’s Office, the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Investigative Service of the Ministry of Finance in combating corruption.

“We believe that next year Georgia will achieve even better results, as the public procurement system has been fully transformed and reformed, and additional oversight mechanisms have been introduced within the Government Administration,” Zhorzholiani said.

He added that the government had set an ambitious goal of placing Georgia among the top three countries in Europe in terms of freedom from corruption.