Why the U.S. Left GRECO, Europe's Anti-Corruption Watchdog
The United States has withdrawn from GRECO, the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption, after notifying the Strasbourg-based body on Monday. The Guardian
A State Department spokesperson said the decision followed a review of U.S. involvement. Membership requires an annual payment but "does not provide tangible benefits to U.S. national security," the spokesperson said. The United States will instead prioritize visa restrictions (travel bans), sanctions (financial penalties) and targeted foreign assistance against corruption.
The exit began as an internal State Department proposal dated 1 September, according to a document seen by The Guardian. The cost is modest. GRECO's total budget for 2025 was about €3m (about $3.4m), funded by contributions from its 48 members.
GRECO was established in 1999 to check whether countries meet the Council of Europe's anti-corruption standards. Like a peer review, members examine each other's rules. The United States has participated since 2000. It is one of two non-European members, alongside Kazakhstan. Russia left in 2023. Belarus left in 2024.
GRECO published an assessment of the United States in December 2023. It credited Washington with strong laws and institutions for preventing corruption in the executive branch but said it lacked an overarching strategy for tackling corruption. The report noted the president and vice-president are exempt from most federal conflict-of-interest rules that apply to other executive branch officials. It made 10 recommendations, including developing an overarching anti-corruption strategy.
The Council of Europe described the United States as a "valuable contributor" to GRECO and said the body remains open to resuming cooperation. The GRECO exit follows a U.S. withdrawal in January from the Venice Commission, another Council of Europe panel and an advisory body on constitutional law. Times Union A State Department spokesperson said the "era of writing blank checks to international bureaucracies is over." Asharq Al-Awsat
The broader context here is institutional, not just budgetary. For practitioners, GRECO mattered less as an enforcement mechanism than as a mutual evaluation forum where members submitted to external review and, in turn, reviewed others. U.S. participation gave Washington a seat in European anti-corruption norm-setting while exposing its own executive-branch ethics regime to outside scrutiny.
Looking at what this means for Washington and Strasbourg, the immediate operational effect is limited. The budget at stake is small. The policy shift is clearer. Washington signals a preference for instruments it controls directly — visa restrictions, sanctions designations and conditioned aid — over collective standard-setting. Strasbourg, for its part, has left the door open. Whether the January and September exits form a template for further withdrawals will shape the next phase of U.S. relations with Council of Europe institutions.
