The European Anti-Corruption Research Center - European Center for Anti-Corruption and State-Building Studies - has published a comprehensive new report analysing the causes and trends of corruption risks across Europe.

The study, commissioned by the EU under the European Commission’s Research and Innovation Program, covers all 41 EU member and candidate countries.

The report provides an in-depth examination of oligarchic tendencies in European states, including Georgia. According to the researchers, Georgia ranks below countries such as Switzerland, Cyprus, Hungary in terms of oligarchic risk factors.

However, despite the report’s acknowledgement that the wealthiest Georgian individual is a supporter of the ruling party, the multi-factor analysis finds that Georgia shows some of the strongest long-term improvements in de-oligarchisation in Europe - placing the country in the top three performers.

To assess long-term trends in oligarchisation and de-oligarchisation, 2 EU-funded indicators were developed: a baseline indicator and a corrected indicator.

The baseline indicator measures changes over a 10-year period since 2012, specifically assessing how the share of national wealth controlled by the richest 1% has evolved. Based on this indicator, Georgia ranks third in Europe, following Ireland and the Netherlands, in long-term improvement in de-oligarchisation. The report notes that, over the past decade, only 15 of the 41 examined countries registered improvement, while the rest experienced deepening oligarchisation.

Moreover, the baseline indicator worsened in 20 EU and Schengen countries, including France, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Austria, Spain, Estonia, Latvia, Czechia, Poland, Malta, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece.