There are no drastic changes in Europe and Central Asia on this year’s index, with only a few exceptions. However, this does not mean that the region is immune from corruption. The stagnation also does not indicate that the fight against corruption has improved, but rather the opposite, says Transparency International that compiled the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index. 

The Czech Republic ranked 47th (score 55) out of 176 countries, compared with 37th place (score 56) in the 2015 CPI ranking. The country reached almost the same scores in 2015 and 2016, but the stagnation means that other countries perform better. Among the EU member states, the country ranks 19th, which is a slight improvement.

The index reflects perceptions of business leaders, investors, experts or academics rather than vox populi, says David Ondráčka, Director of the Czech branch of Transparency International in an interview for the Czech Television, adding that one of the big problems in the Czech Republic is the ability of lobby groups to (legally) tailor legislation to their needs, as they are capable of gaining political support across the political arena. Also, the country needs to sell better its achievements in the area of fight against corruption, such as the Act on the registry of contracts, TI Czech Republic says. 

More details, including infographic and dataset, are available here (in English).

Read also Radio Praha's analysis saying, among others, while the government has talked the talk on anti-corruption moves, it has not really delivered on a series on changes that would really alter the landscape and make it more difficult for corruption to exist.. Alos, one of factors for the relatively poor corruption is that many high profile corruption cases seem to get stalled when they come to court..