Following the debate in plenary on 14 September 2011, the European Parliament adopted 533 to 3, with 11 abstentions, a resolution on the EU’s efforts to combat corruption.

The resolution was tabled on behalf of the S&D, EPP, ECR, ALDE, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups.

It notes that an estimated EUR 120 billion per year, representing one percent of the EU GDP, is lost to corruption. Accordingly, it welcomes the adoption by the Commission on 6 June 2011 of an anti-corruption package , which includes a communication on fighting corruption in the EU and a decision establishing the ‘EU Anti-corruption Report’, and calls on the Commission to prioritise the fight against corruption in the context of its security agenda for the years to come, including as regards the human resources allocated to it. Members note that corruption hampers economic recovery, causes social harm and undermines the rule of law. However, there is a lack of political commitment on the part of leaders and decision-makers to combat corruption in all its forms and the implementation of anti-corruption legislation is uneven among the Member States and unsatisfactory overall. Judicial cooperation in corruption cases with a cross-border dimension remains complex and sluggish. Furthermore, three EU Member States have not ratified the Council of Europe's Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, twelve have not ratified its additional Protocol and seven have not ratified the Civil Law Convention on Corruption; whereas three Member States have not yet ratified the UNCAC and five EU Member States have not ratified the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

Accordingly, Parliament calls on the Commission:

to address through its reporting mechanism the key concern of effective implementation of anticorruption laws, as well as dissuasive sanctions, including those imposed by law enforcement and judiciary; to address the transposition and enforcement of EU anti-corruption legislation, including dissuasive sanctions, and to take steps to stimulate the transposition and enforcement by the Member States of relevant international and regional anticorruption instruments; in implementing the EU anticorruption reporting mechanism, to ensure that independent experts are part of the expert group and the network of research correspondents, that all experts have a proven high level of integrity, reputation and expertise, and that a variety of civil society organisations are represented; consider issuing interim anti-corruption reports before 2013 , given the urgency of tackling this issue in view of the current economic crisis in many Member States; to act on the basis of Article 83 (1) TFEU to adopt minimum rules on the definition of and sanctions for corruption , given its cross-border dimension and internal market consequences; to take further action at EU level towards harmonising legislation on the protection of whistleblowers (including protection against libel and defamation lawsuits and criminal charges) and the criminalisation of illicit enrichment; to make the fight against anonymous shell companies in secrecy jurisdictions, enabling criminal financial flows, a key element of the upcoming reform of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Directive; to ensure strong policy coordination of the anti-corruption reporting mechanism with the new anti-fraud strategy and the legislative initiative on criminal assets recovery, included in the wider package on the protection of the licit economy; to report on an annual basis to the European Parliament on the implementation of the EU anti-corruption policy and to submit, whenever relevant and feasible, interim reports on specific problems relating to the fight against corruption in the EU.

All EU institutions, including EU agencies and Member States, are asked to ensure more transparency by drawing up codes of conduct or improving those already existing, with at least clear rules on conflicts of interest, as well as to take action in preventing and fighting corruption infiltrating politics and the media , including by enhancing transparency and supervision of financing and funding.

Member States are encouraged to invest financial and human resources in the combating of corruption. Parliament stresses the need for the Member States to cooperate with Europol, Eurojust and OLAF in investigating and prosecuting crimes related to corruption. In the same vein, the Council is asked to ensure the necessary political commitment, currently lacking in some Member States, to combat corruption and to implement the measures adopted by the Commission through its anticorruption package and the wider package on the protection of the licit economy. Parliament stressed the need to ratify and fully implement the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions, emphasising the negative impact that bribery of foreign officials has on the Union's fundamental rights, environment and development policies.

Lastly, Parliament asks the Council to act jointly with the Commission in establishing agreements with third countries (especially the so-called offshore jurisdictions) for the purpose of granting the exchange of information about bank accounts and financial transactions relating to EU citizens and companies to those countries.

The House held a debate on Oral Questions O-000148/2011 , O-000154/2011 , O-000172/2011 , O-000178/2011 , O-000190/2011 and O-000193/2011 to the Council, and on O-000149/2011 , O-000155/2011 , O-000173/2011 , O-000179/2011 , O-000191/2011 and O-000194/2011 to the Commission on combating corruption. A motion for a resolution closing this debate was due to be put to the vote on 15 September 2011.