The Slovak Republic has made significant progress towards a strategic approach to public integrity by developing the “Programme Statement of the Government of the Slovak Republic for the period 2020-2024”, the “Anti-Corruption Policy of the Slovak Republic for 2019-2023", and the national and sectoral anti-corruption programmes. Together, these documents provide a solid basis for addressing a wide range of integrity risks across government and society. To ensure they deliver the desired impact, the Slovak Republic could fine-tune the strategic objectives by applying a risk-based approach, allocating appropriate financial resources, and strengthening the monitoring and evaluation framework. Moreover, to keep these documents relevant and incorporate emerging integrity risks, the Slovak Republic could establish a strategic steering group to guide modifications. While the government has engaged stakeholders in the design of the anti-corruption measures, a formal procedure could be established to ensure that such consultations are regular and inclusive.

Efforts are ongoing to strengthen a culture of public integrity in the public sector, but gaps remain. To close these gaps, the Slovak Republic could merge the separate Anti-Corruption Co-ordinator and Ethics Advisor functions into one role to improve clarity and avoid duplication. Awareness raising and training on integrity standards for civil servants could be expanded, with clearer guidance on how to manage and prevent conflicts of interest. The Slovak Republic could also strengthen standards on pre- and post-public employment in the Act on Conflict of Interest and the Civil Service Act, and support implementation with tailored guidelines. It could continue the preparation of a Code of Ethics for political and appointed staff, and support implementation by strengthening parliamentary oversight. Other measures to improve the integrity culture in the public sector include strengthening merit-based recruitment and integrity leadership; enhancing institutional capacity to process, verify and audit asset declarations; and continuing to develop new ways to ensure the effective protection of whistleblowers.

The Slovak Republic has also put in place measures to strengthen corruption risk management in government agencies. The Corruption Prevention Department (CPD) plays a critical role in implementing these measures, overseeing the identification and mitigation of corruption risks, guiding government agencies in their own efforts to manage corruption risks, and assessing corruption risks across government. To effectively carry out these functions, the CPD could make better use of external audit reports and risk registries from government agencies in assessing risks. In addition, the CPD could broaden its assessments to include emerging anti-corruption risks, and could illustrate the value of its assessments by disseminating the results more widely. The CPD could also develop targeted training activities for government agencies, and provide materials such as risk matrices and templates to help government entities improve risk evaluation. To enhance individual risk assessments and coherence across agencies, the CPD could also consider establishing corruption risk management working groups made up of government officials. Furthermore, the CPD could devise communication strategies to raise awareness among citizens and draw greater attention to the CPD’s work. Finally, the CPD could develop a guide for government officials to explain how to carry out risk assessments, including the use of internal audit reports.

A cornerstone of the Slovak Republic’s strategic approach is exploring new ways to engage society in the fight against corruption. This “whole-of-society” approach to public integrity calls on companies, civil society organisations and individuals to ensure that their engagement with the public sector respects the shared ethical norms, principles and values of society. Given that public integrity is essential for well-functioning civil society organisations, the Slovak Republic could establish proportionate rules and controls on financial transparency for civil society organisations. To help businesses improve integrity in their operations, the Slovak Republic could set legal standards, sanctions and incentives for business integrity, and prepare guidance to help companies implement business integrity practices. Building on past projects to mainstream integrity values in the school curriculum, the government and civil society could establish a multi-stakeholder working group with responsibilities for strengthening current efforts on education for integrity. This working group could develop training for educators, along with a monitoring and evaluation framework to assess the impact of the training.

Access to information legislation, the inclusive participation of stakeholders in policy making, and integrity and transparency in lobbying are all important for ensuring a level playing field for business and for promoting informed public decision making. To strengthen stakeholder participation, the Slovak Republic could build on its existing legislative framework for access to information, extend coverage of its law to all relevant actors, establish an oversight body, and include public interest and harm tests. Moreover, it could ensure that mandatory public consultations are adequately implemented. Finally, with a new lobbying bill under preparation, the Slovak Republic could ensure that the lobbying framework covers all efforts to influence the policy-making process across all branches of government. To be comprehensive, the framework could stipulate that information on lobbying activities be made publicly available, assign clear responsibilities for monitoring compliance with the lobbying regulations, establish sanctions for non-compliance, and ensure sufficient resources are provided to achieve the objectives of the law.