TI Report Links European Graft To Debt Woes

A new report released by Transparency International Wednesday linked corruption in Europe with debt problems there. Greece, Spain, and Portugal were named as economies most threatened by graft and debt.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Finn Heinrich, TI's research director, as saying: 'The reasons for the [debt] crisis differ from country to country, but countries that are worst hit by the crisis are also those where corruption is most pervasive and where there’s a lack of integrity in the public system.'

We looked at the correlation between corruption and debt last year for the Eurozone countries, using their cpi rankings. The countries with impending debt headaches -- Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece -- were at the bottom.

TI's full report called Money, Power, Politics: Corruption Risks in Europe can be viewed here.