Vice Minister Marina Sereni gave a keynote speech at the opening session of the Prague Economic and Environmental Forum, the main event of the second dimension of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), dedicated this year to the fight against corruption, under the title “Promoting security, stability and economic growth in the OSCE area by preventing and combating corruption through innovation, increased transparency and digitalisation”.
In her speech, the Vice Minister pointed out that the fight against corruption is “a fundamental issue for Italy. During our Chairmanship, in 2018, it was defined as a priority area of action, also through the establishment of the figure of the OSCE Special Representative in the fight against corruption and the organisation of the first Chairmanship Conference on the subject. We are honoured that our example has been followed by the Slovak and Albanian Presidencies, which have reconfirmed Professor Paola Severino’s mandate as OSCE Representative”.
“Italy,” the Vice Minister stated, “in recent years has put in place numerous policies and regulatory interventions to prevent corruption, focusing on the integrity and transparency of the public sector and the monitoring of tenders and public procurement, as well as a general strengthening of the sanctioning framework for corrupt crimes. In light of this commitment, Italy’s mandate has been renewed in the Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership, making it the most voted country.
In the fight against corruption, Ms Sereni stressed, it is necessary to use “an approach that privileges the role of multilateral cooperation. More than ever, we need innovative visions and strategies to better understand the phenomena, often linked to organised crime and money laundering, in order to react in a shared and coordinated way.
This is why Italy wants to maintain its commitment within the OSCE, in support of its cooperative approach, based on dialogue, respect and ‘ownership’ of the beneficiaries, aware of the need to face new challenges through mutual confrontation, international collaboration and multilateralism”.
The Vice Minister then recalled the importance of digital innovation in promoting effective public governance and the need to develop a comprehensive approach to anti-corruption activities, based on a focus on prevention and in line with the all-encompassing security principle on which the OSCE is based. This is without forgetting that “the pandemic crisis and its impact on the economic and social stability of member countries make more urgent to invest resources and political commitment in giving new impetus to confidence building and cooperation measures in these areas”.
