The fight against corruption in European format: abuse of office returns

The notion of corruption harmonised at EU level, space for trafficking in influence and abuse of office and a common level of sanctions in the European judicial area. These are the objectives of the new Directive (EU) 2026/1021 of 29 April on the fight against corruption, replacing Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA and the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union, and amending Directive (EU) 2017/1371.

Published in the EU Official Journal on 11 May (L series), the directive, which strengthens the level of harmonisation in this area of criminal judicial cooperation in the field of both public and private corruption, will have to be transposed by 1 June 2028, with inevitable changes in the national legal framework. Starting with the definition of offences, including corruption in the public and private sector, undue appropriation, influence peddling, obstruction of justice, enrichment through bribery, occulpation and other serious violations relating to the unlawful exercise of public functions. With a definite impact on the legal framework in Italy where reforms have compressedtrafficking in influence (partially abolished by Law 114/2024) and abuse of office.

The new directive, on the other hand, dedicates the entirety of Article 6 to trading in influence, in line with the obligations already laid down in the UN Convention against Corruption, and then, with Article 7, gives space to abuse of office, albeit defined as 'illegal exercise of public functions'. Thus, in order to avoid infringement proceedings, the necessary measures must be taken so that intentional conduct leading to serious violations of the law resulting from the performance or omission of an act by a public official in the exercise of his duties is considered offence. The directive did, however, provide that states may delimit the subjective scope of the offence to 'certain categories of officials'.

Thus, an EU notion of "public official" was introduced, understood not only as a person who performs an official function in the Union or in a Member State, but also as "any other person who has been entrusted with and performs public service functions, in accordance with national law, including on behalf of or under the authority of a public authority in Member States or third countries", adopting a functional and not a formal notion. The criteria for the distribution of jurisdiction are also clarified: Article 18 confers jurisdiction on the courts of the Member State where the offence was committed, even if it was committed in part or if the perpetrator is one of its nationals. However, Member States may notify the Commission of cases where they wish to extend their jurisdiction, including when the offence is committed against one of their nationals.

Changes in the sanctioning framework (Article 12) with the aim of achieving an alignment of penalties in the Member States, with penalties diversified between custodial measures that will range from three to five years depending on the offence, fines and measures such as banning and exclusion from public funding.