The most effective tool for fighting corruption that fuels poverty. A Presidential Advisor's Solution
Corruption is present in all fields and at any level, in Romania and beyond. And Romania's economy, already strained by the bad decisions of politicians, is literally suffocated by this “toxin”. However, presidential advisor Radu Burnete has the solution to combat corruption.
Romania is the EU country with the most children living in squalor and poverty. PHOTO: Pixabay
Romania has been fighting corruption for decades, but the war is far from being won. Radu Burnete, presidential adviser on economic issues, explains, in a post on Facebook, how corruption manages to gradually encompass the entire economy and suffocate it, like a weed difficult to combat. Logically, corruption means abject poverty and chaotically wasted resources, while a large part of the population has no benefit from the public money thrown down the window.
Corruption means poverty and wasted public money
“Fighting corruption is very important for economic development. Out-of-control corruption means wasted public money (so higher taxes than necessary). Corruption opens many doors through which the state enters the private economy and distorts it, and this will not lead over time to competitive actors able to export and compete globally and offer higher and higher wages. Too much corruption ends up promoting them in the private economic environment on those who know how to open these doors and not on those who offer the best products and services at the best prices”, says the expert.
Corruption endures all the better as it has become endemic in Eastern Europe. There are some weapons that can be used to fight it, but it is a war that goes on, and sometimes it does not give the desired results. Appointed since May as economic and social advisor to President Nicușor Dan, Radu Burnete talks about the most effective tool in fighting corruption in Romania.
Radu Burnete. PHOTO: Facebook
Digitization, the miracle solution
“Beyond the well-known tools to combat this phenomenon, there is one that we have talked about enormously in Romania, on which we have spent a lot of money and which still remains a distant wish: digitization. Digitization for real. The Edge Institute recently published a report on the governance of digitization in Romania, and I leave here a more than telling graph where you can see the “digital maturity” of Romania compared to that of Estonia”, says Burnete.
However, there is no time to lose, especially since any respite offered to corruption helps it take even more solid roots, just like a weed that is hard to fight.
“We will have to roll up our sleeves and recover quickly in this chapter because the benefits will be on all fronts from fairer public procurement to the reduction of tax evasion and from better public services for citizens to an ecosystem that will allow Romania to keep pace in the artificial intelligence race that cannot be won with photocopiers and printers”considers Burnete.
“I have progressed unreasonably little”
His conclusion is that although many resources have been mobilized in this struggle, Romania has not been able to make sufficient progress. And even if corruption in Romania is not at the level of former ex-Soviet republics such as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, so far it has proved sufficiently resistant here as well, despite the impressive arsenal used to combat it. His conclusion is that the battle must begin without any further delay.
“Despite a decade in which many public resources have gone in this direction, we have not made enough progress. In fact, we have made unjustifiably little progress. It is a topic on which we will and will lean heavily. It cannot wait any longer.” concludes Radu Burnete.
