The High Authority for Transparency in Public Life participated in the 24th annual conference and general assembly of the EPAC/EACN network

The 24th annual conference and general assembly of the EPAC/EACN network was held on November 24 and 25 at Eurojust headquarters in The Hague.

The European Partners Against Corruption (EPAC) was established in 2004 and brings together the police oversight bodies of Council of Europe member states, as well as anti-corruption authorities. The European Contact-Point Network Against Corruption (EACN) is a network established by the Council of the European Union. Meetings in the EPAC/EACN format allow the various member authorities to exchange information and strengthen cooperation in the fight against corruption and the oversight of law enforcement authorities. The network currently gather 126 member authorities from 40 different countries.

In addition to the national authorities, several European institutions participated in the annual conference. Representatives from the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, Europol, and the European Anti-Fraud Office took turns speaking to emphasize the importance of cooperation between European states in the fight against corruption.

The High Authority participated in the panel on « Modern Approaches to Education and Awareness-Raising in the Fight Against Corruption. » Speaking on behalf of the European Network for Public Ethics, for which the High Authority provides the Secretariat, the HATVP presented the results of the comparative analysis on awareness-raising. This analysis was previously discussed and adopted at ENPE’s plenary meeting in Budapest.

The General Assembly approved the admission of seven new members, bringing the number of member authorities in the network to 126 and the number of countries represented to 40. The Office of the Attorney General of the Swiss Confederation, the Norwegian Central Criminal Investigation Department (Økokrim), the Internal Affairs Unit of the Spanish National Police, the Internal Criminal Investigations Network (observer), the Portuguese National Anti-Corruption Mechanism (MENAC), the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, and the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office have thus joined the network.

The Chair and the Board of Directors of the network were re-elected for a two-year term. Lucile Rolland, Vice-Chair, and Hugh Hume, Deputy Vice-Chair, announced their resignations. Pedro Nuno de Carvalho Figueiredo, Inspector General at the General Inspectorate of Administration of Portugal, was elected to succeed Ms. Rolland. Marion Hidrio, Director of the General inspectorate of the national police (IGPN) in Rennes, has been elected to succeed Mr. Hume.

The next EPAC/EACN Annual Conference and General Assembly is scheduled to take place in Montenegro in September 2026.