Closing the accountability gap: Parliaments, anti-corruption institutions and the future of oversight in Europe

The relationship between parliaments and independent anti-corruption institutions is central to effective democratic oversight. When it functions well, oversight findings inform lasting reforms. When it does not, reports may receive little follow-up, accountability gaps remain and structural weaknesses persist.

ODIHR and Portugal’s Mecanismo Nacional Anticorrupção (MENAC) are organizing a one-day peer-learning exchange in Lisbon. The event will bring together Portuguese oversight institutions, anti-corruption bodies from across Europe and academic experts to examine how parliaments and independent anti-corruption institutions work together in practice and identify opportunities to strengthen this relationship in Portugal and across the OSCE region.

Drawing on comparative national experience, participants will consider how parliaments and anti-corruption bodies interact in practice across Europe, where oversight findings have led to effective follow-up and where accountability gaps remain.

The discussion will also explore which institutional design features best ensure that findings and recommendations lead to meaningful reform.

The peer-learning exchange aims to:

• compare approaches to co-operation between parliaments and independent anti-corruption institutions across Europe;
• identify practices that help ensure effective follow-up to oversight findings and recommendations;
• examine institutional and procedural factors that can strengthen accountability; and
• identify practical opportunities to improve the relationship between parliaments and anti-corruption bodies in Portugal and across the OSCE region.

Hosted by MENAC, the exchange will engage Portugal’s Entidade para a Transparência and the Entity for Accounts and Political Financing (EAPF).

Expected contributors include representatives of the following institutions:

• French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA), France;
• National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC), Italy;
• Independent Authority for Whistleblower Protection (AIPI), Spain;
• Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK), Slovenia;
• Integrity Authority (IA), Hungary;
• National Transparency Authority (NTA), Greece;
• Special Investigation Service (STT), Lithuania;
• Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC), Montenegro;
• National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), Ukraine; and
• Mecanismo Nacional Anticorrupção (MENAC), Portugal.

Academic experts will include Professor Mihály Fazekas of Central European University and Luís Macedo Pinto de Sousa of the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon.

For questions about the event, please contact Nina Chanturia, ODIHR Associate Democratic Governance Officer, at nina.chanturia@odihr.pl.