Full Breakdown
U.S. Withdrawal from GRECO Marks Shift in Anti-Corruption Strategy
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event
The administration of President Donald Trump formally notified the Council of Europe that the United States is leaving the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO). The decision was communicated the day before the announcement and follows an internal State Department proposal dated September 1. GRECO, established in 1999, monitors compliance with the Council’s anti-corruption standards; the United States had been a member since 2000, one of only two non-European participants alongside Kazakhstan.
Background and Context
GRECO’s 2025 budget was about €3 million (? $3.4 million), funded by contributions from its 48 members. Russia exited the watchdog in 2023 and Belarus in 2024; the United States now becomes the third country to withdraw. The body has no enforcement power, relying on peer review, recommendations, and follow-up monitoring. In its December 2023 assessment of the United States, GRECO praised strong executive-branch laws but noted the absence of an overarching anti-corruption strategy and exemptions for the president and vice-president from most federal conflict-of-interest rules.
Official Statements & Responses
A U.S. security and prosperity. The spokesperson added that the department’s primary responsibility is to protect the American people. The Council of Europe described the United States as a “valuable contributor” and said the group remains open to future cooperation.
Data, Recommendations, and Implications
GRECO’s latest annual report indicated that states had fully or partly implemented almost 90 % of its recommendations, with the lowest compliance among parliamentarians (15.5 % of recommendations unimplemented). For the United States, GRECO issued ten recommendations, including the development of an overarching anti-corruption strategy for the executive branch. As of the most recent evaluation, GRECO has not published a U.S. compliance report following that assessment.
Verbatim Quotes
- “The era of blank checks to international bureaucracies is over.” — The department
The withdrawal reflects a broader Trump-era policy of reducing U.S. financial commitments to multilateral bodies deemed inefficient, signaling a preference for unilateral tools over collective monitoring mechanisms.