The European Parliament today backed plans to harmonise national lawsaimed at fighting private sector corruption inside the 15-nationEuropean Union.
Current EU president Denmark has proposed the giving orreceiving bribes in return for favours should be punished with a maximum jail term of at least one to three years and hopes a deal can be reached before the end of the year.
"Parliament has today given strong backing to the fightagainst corruption," said Italian Liberal Member Mr Francesco Rutelli, whose report on the proposals was endorsed by the EU assembly.
Under the proposals, any person found guilty of corruptionmight also lose the right to public aid or benefits, be placedunder judicial supervision or be excluded temporarily orpermanently from commercial activities.
If adopted, the new laws would help the 10 candidatecountries, set to join the EU in 2004, take much needed stepsto fight widespread corruption.
An independent watchdog, which monitors progress made by theEU hopefuls, earlier this month said candidate countries'efforts to fight corruption was made more difficult by the lackof EU anti-corruption laws.
"The efforts taken against corruption in the candidatestates have often been mere formalistic," the Open SocietyInstitute said in a report.
"There is even a danger that ineffective measures willundermine the credibility of all anti-corruption measures."