President of the Republic received with military honors at Buckingham Palace

President of the Portuguese Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was received this Thursday with military honors at Buckingham Palace when he was received by King Charles III on the occasion of the 650th anniversary of the Portuguese-British Union.

The Portuguese head of state arrived at the palace at 10:20 am to be received by the British monarch in a courtyard known as the Quadrangle, according to a source in the presidency.

After the performance of the national anthem of Portugal by the military band of the company “Welsh Guards”, a parade of a joint guard of honor of British and Portuguese soldiers took place.

In terms of deputies, GRECO made five recommendations against corruption and in favor of greater transparency, with five proposals partially implemented.

Judicial magistrates received the highest number of recommendations, six, but only one (16.7%) was fully implemented. Among the judges, three more (50%) are applied, and two (33.3%) have yet to be effectively applied.

Finally, four recommendations were addressed to prosecutors, half of which have already been implemented and the other half have been partially implemented.

Compared to the data from the previous report for 2021, Portugal does not record many differences: three recommendations have been fully implemented, seven have been partially implemented, and five are not yet implemented.

In terms of a global perspective on fighting corruption among member states, and taking into account the different rhythms of countries in anti-corruption practices, GRECO expressed its concern about the obstacles to transparency created by various governments and how these methods can contribute to illegal activities.

“Governments must ensure in practice the general principle of transparency in public documents. Any exception to the public disclosure rule should be kept to a minimum and should be carefully justified. With regard specifically to public procurement, public scrutiny and access to official documents are important. effectively prevent corruption,” said the president of the organization, Marin Mrčela.

According to also a member of the Croatian Supreme Court, the application of the recommendations of the body of the Council of Europe “needs to be further strengthened”, stressing that the political power continues to show the lowest rates of application: depend on the actions of the deputies themselves and the achievement of an agreement”.

Overall, for 48 Member States, the situation in 2022 indicates that 49.43% of the recommendations have been fully implemented, 33.42% have been partially implemented, and 17.15% are yet to be implemented. The highest percentage of fully implemented measures concerns prosecutors (59.48%), followed by judges (51.81%) and deputies (38.71%).

GRECO, the supervisory body of the Council of Europe, established in 1999 and headquartered in Strasbourg, France, issues recommendations on anti-corruption policies and integrity, transparency and oversight of government activities, conflicts of interest, prohibition or restriction of certain activities. , asset and income declarations, and accountability and enforcement mechanisms.