One of brightest spots in the global fight against corruption has been the French turnaround. Once a laggard among developed nations in enforcing anticorruption laws, as former French Finance Minister Michel Sapin and Valentina Lana, Sciences Po lecturer told GAB readers in 2022 (here), over the past decade thanks to both domestic and international pressure numerous reforms have been approved. They include new laws increasing penalties for bribery and imposing stiff sanctions on companies without an anticorruption compliance program and the creation of an anticorruption agency.

The French Cour de comptes, the national audit agency, recently assessed the country’s progress in curbing corruption and what more needs to be done (report here, summary here).  Not surprisingly, at least to GAB readers, the report emphasized the challenge of measuring corruption.

Thanks to Sophie Lemaître, host of the 1st podcast in French on corruption & tax evasion, for flagging the assessment on her LinkedIn page.

Highlights of the report: