Strong institutions are the most important in the fight against corruption

„Three quarters of Serbian citizens think that corruption is present in society and innovation is certain slight optimism because half of citizens believe that corruption has decreased slightly“, said BCSPExecutive Director Predrag Petrovic during the presentation of the results in the Media Center.

According to the research designed by the BCSP research team and conducted by CeSiD between 9 and 19 March 2013 on a representative sample, 42% of Serbian citizens think that corruption is a bit reduced, which is 19 percentage points higher than in 2012, while 3% of citizens believe that the level of corruption greatly reduced. That the level of corruption has remained the same considered 41% of the population, which is four percentage points lower than last year, when 45% of the respondents thought that.

Politicians hinder the fight against corruption

More than half of the citizens (62%) believe that the fight against corruption in the past year was more or less successful, while 30% think it is not. Prevailing opinion among citizens is that the most important thing for fight against corruption are powerful institutions (46%), while 25% think that it requires a strong politician who will lead that fight.

Citizens believe that the fight against corruption is hindered most by politicians and political parties (12%), followed by tycoons and current and former government (11%).

Influence of the EU is irrelevant

Citizens do not see the EU as an important factor in promoting fight against corruption. Small number of people (8%) give the importance of „external pressure“ (the role of the EU and the international community), while a majority believe that the EU should not interfere in the fight against corruption in Serbia and 24% said that it should only advise domestic authorities. On the other hand, 28% said that the EU should pressure local politicians to fight more efficiently.

Most corrupt are traffic officers and directors

The research was primarily related to the perception of corruption in the police. It showed that 90% of citizens believe that the police is more or less corrupt. BCSP researcher Sasa Djordjevic said that in public there is a very strong „image“ of the police as corrupt and that the citizens see police as the third most corrupt institution in Serbia, after health and justice.

Most people (49%) believe that the traffic police is most corrupt, 12% that it is criminal police, and 11% said it is border police. One-third of citizens believe that the police managers are most corrupt, and 27% as the most corrupt points out the „ordinary“ police.

Every third respondent has given bribe

The survey showed that 16% of people had direct experience with corruption. Most respondents said that they has given up to 1 000 dinars as bribe, while the gifts were given less frequently. When it comes to the personal experience of citizens with regard to corruption, the research results should be interpreted with caution because mostly they are only indications, said BCSP researcher Marko Savković.

The first result of the A-COP group

Public opinion research is the first result of the work of A-COP group composed of 10 civil society organizations dedicated to strenghtening anti-corruption efforts in Serbia. Members of the A-COP Group, besides BCSP are: Toplica Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, The Novi Sad School of Journalism, The Southern News, Becej Youth Association, PROTECTA, Resource Centre, Fighters against Corruption, Info Centre and The Initiative for Social Responsibility. The project “A-COP: Civil Society Against Corruption in Police” is supported by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia and the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of Serbia.