To reduce European deficits: step one - reduce corruption, say experts

Corruption costs the European Union (EU) €323 billion a year, three times more than previous estimates, a study by the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany, and the Brussels office of Germany’s Bertelsmann Stiftung (Foundation) suggests. In a 9 April 2013 report to the European Parliament, Hertie and Bertelsmann Stiftung calculated that EU member states could increase annual tax revenues by roughly this figure if they reduced corruption to levels found in Denmark, ranked by Bertelsmann Stiftung as the least corrupt in the EU.