ANTI-CORRUPTION POLICY OF EUROPEAN UNION: LESSONS LEARNED AND CURRENT CHALLENGES

The anti-corruption policy of the European Union as an association of European countries is complicated not only in substance but also because of the complex structure and multiplicity of forms of such association. Today, we deal with three levels of European countries: the European Union, the Schengen area and the Eurozone. Currently in the European Union, there is no integrated mechanism of political and legal regulation. This is the primarily reason, which generates weak political integration of the EU countries. Nevertheless, the main reason is the lack of institutional arrangements between member-countries concerning the establishment of such mechanism. The article provides a definition of corruption that is acceptable to the EU; it identified forms of corruption in the framework of three levels of European countries; it selects political and legal aspects of anti-corruption activities of the EU; it gives examples illustrating both the effectiveness and the weakness of the EU anti-corruption policy. As the European Union has no anti-corruption law, criminal liability of neither individuals nor legal entities is not provided. Therefore, the EU uses the standards of criminal responsibility for corruption crimes provided by the documents of the Council of Europe and the UN. The effectiveness of anti-corruption policy of the EU is discussed in the article in its dependency on the incorporation of anti-corruption measures in the overall reform process of the EU. In conclusion, the author states that the EU is actively engaged in the fight against corruption, and it brings tangible results.