Spain is considered the most corrupt country in the European Union, according to a study conducted by Statista, which measured citizens' perceptions of and experiences with corruption.
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Researchers asked participants across the E.U. nations, “Are you affected by corruption in daily life?” where upon 63 percent of Spaniards answered “yes,” the highest number of all E.U. nations.
Spaniards, however, are not the only ones who distrust their country. A separate study found that the majority of Germans also consider Spain to be unreliable and corrupt. The study was released by the Spanish-based research organization Real Institute Elcano.
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The Elcano study also found that 49 percent of Germans do not find the Spanish reliable – a distrust that has more than doubled over the last 10 years. In 1996, the same study found that only 20 percent of Germans said they did find the Spanish reliable.
The studies were released as Spain is embroiled in several corruption scandals. Some of the more severe include what has been dubbed the “wind plot” in the region of Castilla and Leon, where two prominent politicians have been accused of authorizing wind farms in exchange for bribes.
Further, earlier this month, Spain’s public prosecutor also accused the country’s former economy minister and former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Rodrigo Rato, of money laundering and tax fraud while in office.
Acccording to Statista, other countries where citizens perceived high rates of corruption in their own nation were Greece (63 percent) and Cyprus (51 percent). Those countries where corruption is the least apparent is Germany (6 percent), France (6 percent) and Denmark (3 percent).