US corruption rating slides under  Donald Trump

The United States, with a score of 71 out of 100 (a drop of 4 points), for the first time since 2011 leaves the top 20 countries with the lowest perception of corruption, according to the annual report of Transparency International based in Berlin.

The agency annually classifies 180 countries according to their perceived level of corruption in the public sector. The classification continues to be dominated, as in previous years, by the Nordic countries, with Denmark at the top, and New Zealand  second

Somalia remains at the bottom of the ranking, behind Yemen, South Sudan and Syria.

The “weak score” of the United States “comes at a time when it faces threats to its checks system [against corruption] and its counterpowers, as well as to an erosion of ethical standards at the highest levels of the world. power “, says TI.

Turbulence
The second year of Trump’s term was very turbulent, with revelations about alleged links between his campaign team and Russia or his controversial support for a Supreme Court candidate accused of sexual assault, going through suspicions of nepotism says the AFP  News agency.

“The Trump presidency shed light on the failures of the US system to ensure responsible government for the public interest,” Zoe Reiter, interim IT representative in the United States, told AFP.

“But President Trump is a symptom rather than a cause, the problems existed before he took office,” she adds, citing the inability of the US system to avoid conflicts of interest.

Transparency International also points to Turkey and Hungary, which fell in the classification, criticizing “the deterioration of the rule of law and democratic institutions, as well as the rapid reduction of the space of civil society and independent media.”

“While many democratic institutions are threatened around the world, often by leaders with authoritarian or populist tendencies, we must do more to strengthen the checks and balances and protect the rights of citizens,” says Patricia Moreira, IT Director General.

Among its recommendations, the NGO urges governments to defend press freedom and to support civil society organizations that work to control public spending.