Croatia has the most corrupt public procurement in the entire European Union

Croatia is the European Union member state with the highest level of corruption in public procurement and, along with Romania and Bulgaria, is among the most corrupt EU countries, according to a study commissioned by the European Parliament and conducted by the RAND Europe institute, reports the Patria News Agency. 

Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria lead a group of fourteen EU countries with an above-average level of corruption, the study states, and according to the index of the level of corruption in public procurement, Croatia is at the very top, ahead of Cyprus, Lithuania, and Romania. Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Latvia lose about 15 percent of their GDP annually due to corruption. 

The analysis by the non-profit institute RAND Europe, based on three scenarios and several methodological approaches, showed that corruption costs the European Union between 179 and 990 billion euros annually. 

Corruption has a significant social and political impact as it fosters inequality, organized crime, weaker rule of law, lower voter turnout, and distrust towards European institutions, the study states, writes Index.