Description
This commitment has been submitted to the Open Gov Challenge as part of Spain’s 2025-2029 action plan, under the “Integrity and Accountability” category (Milestone 3.5.2).
Explore the full action plan: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/spain-action-plan-2025-2029
Background
On 9 July, the Prime Minister announced a State Plan to Combat Corruption in Parliament, which was subsequently approved by the Council of Ministers on 26 August. The Plan, which contains 15 measures structured around five pillars, is designed to consolidate progress, correct structural weaknesses and establish a clear roadmap for the implementation of measures that will enable us to continue moving towards a more integrated and transparent administration. With this plan, Spain reaffirms its commitment to an institutional culture based on public integrity and aspires to be at the forefront of preventing and combating corruption.
What is the problem/need that the initiative aims to resolve?
The fight against corruption is one of the main challenges facing democratic societies, and public administrations must prevent and punish it firmly. In recent years, more than 30 measures have been approved to strengthen transparency and combat corruption, such as the Whistleblower Protection Act, the creation of an Independent Whistleblower Protection Authority, the National Action Plan for Democracy, and the promotion of new specialised public prosecutors’ offices.
Despite the significant progress made in recent years, Spain still faces challenges in terms of prevention and combating corruption.
The Organic Law will give impetus to the State Plan to Combat Corruption, providing its measures with regulatory force, ensuring compliance and guaranteeing consistency. The OECD will play an important role in evaluating this Plan, whose measures are aligned with the recommendations of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and with the European Union’s Rule of Law Report.
Brief description
The draft bill incorporates measures derived from the Anti-Corruption Plan. It contains various measures such as the creation of the Independent Public Integrity Agency, conceived as an independent administrative authority with its own legal personality and functional autonomy, called upon to play a central role in risk assessment and supervision of areas most susceptible to corrupt behaviour, the development of integrity risk maps, the roll-out of compulsory training programmes on ethics and good governance for public employees, and the regular conduct of campaigns and surveys to measure public perception of corruption and thus gauge the effectiveness of public policies.
At the same time, the Law strengthens the regulatory framework for procurement and modifies criminal law to increase penalties for corruption offences and extend the statute of limitations.
Objectives
- Ensure the full implementation of the State Plan against Corruption.
- Strengthen the prevention of corruption in all administrations.
- To improve public perception of the integrity of the public sector.
How does the initiative contribute to solving the problem or meeting the need?
The commitment ensures the regulatory implementation of the measures set out in the Plan to Combat Corruption.
Relevance to open government values
- Transparency: publication of indicators and results of the Plan.
- Accountability: regular reports on the degree of compliance.
- Inter-administrative collaboration: coordination with autonomous communities and local entities.