EIC Treasurer participates in Anti-Corruption Conference
On 7 December, EIC Treasurer Uwe Krenz presented the perspective of the European construction industry at a one-day conference on “Tackling Corruption across the EU” hosted by the TI Liaison Office to the EU (TI EU).
The conference looked at the various causes and consequences of corruption as well as potential tools, policies and strategies that can be used to strengthen integrity and transparency across Europe. It brought together about 200 participants, for instance politicians, representatives from European universities, civil society representatives, high-level EU officials, the private sector, law firms, international press agencies and other stakeholders which discussed the EU’s potential as an ally in the fight against corruption. It looked at ways to establish a new area of transparency, accountability and better governance in Europe.
Mr. Krenz participated on behalf of FIEC/EIC as a panelist and speaker in Plenary Panel 4 with the topic “Eliminating waste and corruption in EU funds: The role of procurement” and presented the perspective of European contractors. The panel was chaired by Angelique Keijsers; Head of Fraud, Investigations and Disputes Services from Ernst & Young and completed by:
- Nicholas Ilett, Director of General Affairs, European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
- Christian Servenay, Deputy Dead of Unit, Public Procurement Policy, European Commission
- Peter Tausz, Head of private sector program, TI Hungary
- Uwe Krenz, Member of FIEC/EIC Working Group “Ethics”, EIC Treasurer
Mr. Krenz highlighted in his presentation the tremendous efforts undertaken by the European construction industry to fight corruption. He emphasised that European construction companies had made substantial investments into in-house prevention systems and had initiated a process towards a zero-tolerance policy. Unfortunately, FIEC/EIC were observing less enthusiasm on the part of the Contracting Authorities and Governments as well as the international funding agencies to do the same within their sphere.
Mr.Krenz referred in his presentation to the FIEC/EIC Joint Position Paper which advocated specific preventive measures for implementation that would help close the loophole for unethical behaviour, such as:
- Quality-based bid selection process
- Positive weighting for companies with a credible anti-corruption policy
- Better prepared projects and tender documents (Well prepared projects, WPP, CICA Working Group)
- More fair and balanced Contract Conditions
- Need of a level playing field
- Capacity-Building (Training of procurement staff)
- Sustainability (social and technical)
FIEC/EIC invited the various parties, like International Financing Institutes (IFIs), Funding Agencies, Donors and Consulting Engineers, to enter into a serious dialogue with the construction industry and to working together on identifying and implementing tools for fighting corruption. In addition, Mr. Krenz encouraged IFIs and TI to continuously working on the modernisation of public procurement rules to contribute substantially to increased transparency and equal treatment, to combating corruption and to professionalizing the procurement process. He recommended also to harmonize the EU-public procurement with the World Bank Procurement System. During the panel discussion Mr: Krenz gave a positive assessment on the EU's “Green Paper” but addressed some points which would need further clarifications.
Representatives from the EU and TI expressed their appreciation to EIC for their engagement in the World Bank’s initiative of Procurement Systems (UCS, Piloting Program on Country Systems) and for supporting the OECD/DAC- Standards. TI pointed out the very constructive cooperation between their representative, Dr. Michael Wiehen, and Mr.Krenz in the International Technical Advisory Group, ITAG, for the World Bank.
The successful and well-organised Conference on Combating Corruption showed once again that unethical behavior is an unacceptable phenomenon in national and international business transactions and relates to the entire society. A lot of efforts and awareness have still to be done .