Moreover, any state which becomes party to Council of Europe's Criminal or Civil Law Conventions on Corruption automatically accedes to GRECO and its evaluation procedures.

GRECO's president stated in a press release, "This explains to a large extent why people's trust in politics is very low and will be even lower if politicians don't step up their compliance with integrity standards".

[6] GRECO's objective is to improve the capacity of its members to fight corruption by monitoring their compliance with Council of Europe anti-corruption standards through a dynamic process of mutual evaluation and peer pressure.

The need for efficient monitoring mechanisms in this area was widely accepted by these organisations which contributed to discussions held under the aegis of the Council of Europe which eventually led to the establishment of GRECO.

GRECO launched on 20 March 2017 its Fifth Evaluation Round which will focus on "Preventing corruption and promoting integrity in central governments (top executive functions) and law enforcement agencies".

[9] In 2025, GRECO will launch its 6th evaluation round, focusing on preventing corruption and promoting integrity in local and regional authorities.

The experience gathered in connection with the GRECO process suggests that, ideally, evaluations should be limited in scope, with clear decisions having been taken as to the relevance of certain topics and sub-topics; key questions need to be carefully phrased.

On-site visits are a major asset for the credibility of the whole process in that they enable evaluation teams to hold thorough discussions with domestic key players (including representatives of civil society), to request additional information on-the-spot, and to shed light on often blurred and contentious issues.

Issues of interpretation of certain legal concepts, relevant to the corruption offence (e.g. "undue advantage", "breach of duty"), the ensuing jurisprudence, as well as the problems involved in properly applying the legislation under scrutiny cannot be adequately addressed without the possibility of discussing these matters with domestic practitioners.

In 1996, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a comprehensive Programme of Action against Corruption and, subsequently, issued a series of anti-corruption standard-setting instruments: