A new European Commission funded report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says that an average of one person in six has to pay bribes to access services in the Western Balkans and that the problem, despite the best efforts of both the EU and western Balkan governments, is as bad as it ever was. An official from the European Commission’s bureau for enlargement in the Balkans said that, ‘corruption and the rule of law are at the heart of the current enlargement process,’ and the ‘challenge is enormous,’ but fighting corruption was ‘make or break’ for the Balkan nations aspirations towards EU membership. Only 1.5% report bribery. Over half do not report payoffs because either it was perceived as ‘pointless’ as ‘nobody will care’ or because it was deemed ‘common practice’. Of the few that did make a report on paying a bribe, in a quarter of cases no action at all was taken.

Pray: that God would expose corruption here and wherever it occurs that His light will expose the darkness. (Job.12:22)

More: http://www.neurope.eu/articles/Balkan-Bribes/106541.php