January 25 (SeeNews) - Kosovo is still regarded as the most corrupt state in the Western Balkans, non-governmental corruption watchdog Transparency International said on Wednesday.
The tiny country ranked eight positions higher at 95th place in the organisation's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2016, compared to 103rd position in the last year's edition of the ranking.
Among all European countries, only Moldova, Russia and Ukraine performed worse than Kosovo.
The CPI comprises 176 countries and territories. The index aggregates data from different sources, which provide perceptions of business people and country experts on corruption in the public sector.
The CPI 2016 is calculated using thirteen different data sources. In the case of Kosovo, the sources are five: World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment, Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, Bertelsmann Foundation Transformation Index, Variaties of Democracy Project, and Freedom House Nations in Transit Ratings.
"Integrity in politics is key to fighting against corruption. In the Western Balkans, Transparency International’s recent report attributes weaknesses in law enforcement to captured political systems in which politicians wield enormous influence on all walks of public life, while being close to wealthy private businessmen or even organised crime networks," Transparency International said.
A previous report of Transparency International, published in November 2016 showed that some 67% of Kosovars are of the opinion that the government was performing rather badly in the fight against corruption.
According to United Nations Development Programme's Public Pulse on Corruption report published also in November, corruption is the most pressing problem for 18% of Kosovars, following the high unemployment which is the main problem of the country according to some 39% of the citizens.