SEEU Review vol. 6 Nr. 2 (pdf) - South East European University

SEEU Review Volume 6, No. 2, 2010pursuant to Law on Agency against corruption of Kosovo, the termcorruption includes “any abuse of power or any other behavior of officialperson, responsible person or other person for the purpose of achieving orobtain of an advantage for himself or for illegal profit for his/her self or anyother person” (Law No. 03/L-159 on Anti corruption Agency: art.2).In the Republic of Kosovo, based on details of reports and other studies,published during 2008-2010, concerning situation survey, public perception,causes and consequences of corruption, it is obvious that corruption is stillwidely spread and represents a major challenge for the new state, resulting inthe deprivation of rule of law and reform implementation, as well as majorobstacle in economical development and democracy in Kosovo (KosovoAnti-corruption Strategy 2009-2011: 4). It also represents a country with abad image in the world. The European Commission in the Progress Reportfor Kosovo, published recently, has identified numerous gaps anddeprivations in the political fields, including public administration andpolitics against corruption (Progress Report from European Commission forKosovo 2010). In particular, it is estimated that civil servants are stillaffected by political interferences, corruptive practices and nepotism.Concerns are raised also for the transparency of the work of the Assembly,weak cooperation among Government and Ombudsperson, independenceand inefficiency of law enforcement authorities and judiciary dealing incases involving corruptive actions (Kosovo Anti-corruption Strategy 2009-2011: 4). Also, in the field of economic development, corruption is specifiedas a major interference in the development of economic activity (KosovoAnti-corruption Strategy 2009-2011: 4). This is related to numerousproblems concerning the corruption situation and the lack of application ofEuropean standards in certain fields such as taxes, competition, publicprocurements, information associations and media, financial control, fightingmoney laundering, drugs and organized crime as well as police activity.In the view of the Early Warning Report organized by the United NationsDevelopment Program (UNDP) in Kosovo, for 2009, corruption is listed thefifth among the major problems, which are facing Kosovo (Early WarningReport 2009). Pursuant to this report, institutions which have the highestlevel of corruption in Kosovo are: Kosovo Energy Corporation, KosovoTrust Agency, Customs, Kosovo Post and Telecommunication, CentralAdministration, courts, health services and UNMIK Police. Details withinthe Annual Report 2009 of the Kosovo Corruption Agency providenumerous reported corruption cases, which are expanded in Kosovo Publicinstitutions and authorities (Anti-corruption Kosovo Agency Annual Report2009).61