Political parties and candidates require funding to adequately exercise their ordinary functions or to campaign for elections. However, donations made by individuals and corporations to political parties and candidates can come with corruption risks.
Political finance scandals are not unusual in the Western Balkans and Türkiye. Over the last decade, the media have reported cases including €4.9 million of illicit donations accepted by a former ruling party in North Macedonia; allegations of foreign funding in Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and false donations aimed at hiding funding sources in Serbia, to name a few…
