Lower-Level Corruption, Crime, and Drugs

"By contrast, in the European Union much of the corruption reported appears to be on a low level, according to research by Europol.⁸⁰ Political corruption at the level of elected national representatives or agency heads appears to be rare. However, Europol found that corruption of city councillors, mayors and other local level politicians was more common, especially in cities along the European Union’s eastern land border.⁸¹ Overall, Europol concluded that organized crime groups involved in drug trafficking in Europe rely on corruption to facilitate their trafficking activities.⁸²"