OECD finds Luxembourg trailing peers on anti-corruption strategy and lobbying oversight

Luxembourg, a Grand Duchy whose financial centre trades on its reputation for stability and the rule of law, has been told by the OECD that it lacks one of the most basic instruments of clean government: a national strategy to fight corruption.

The Paris-based organisation's Anti-Corruption and Integrity Outlook 2026, published in March, scores Luxembourg at zero on both the design and the day-to-day practice of a strategic anti-corruption framework, against OECD averages of 38% and 32% respectively. The figures are drawn from the OECD's Public Integrity Indicators, with data extracted on 7 March 2026.

The assessment lands as governance quality comes under sustained outside scrutiny. The European Commission's annual Rule of Law Report and the Council of Europe's anti-corruption watchdog, GRECO, have both pressed Luxembourg for years to close gaps in transparency and disclosure — pressure that matters for a country whose economy rests on the credibility of its courts and supervisors.

Strong rules, weaker practice

Across the OECD's eight integrity dimensions, the recurring pattern is a country that legislates well but applies the rules unevenly. On the books, Luxembourg often approaches its peers; in measured "practice", it repeatedly falls short. The report puts judicial integrity practice at 20% (against an OECD average of 45%), prosecutorial integrity practice at 21% (52%), and the practice of the civil-service disciplinary system at just 17%, even though its rules score a near-top 92%.

• Strategic framework: 0% regulation / 0% practice (OECD average 38% / 32%)
• Lobbying: 40% / 33% (43% / 38%)
• Conflict of interest: 67% / 33% (80% / 45%)
• Judicial integrity: 65% / 20% (66% / 45%)
• Prosecutorial integrity: 62% / 21% (66% / 52%)
• Disciplinary system for civil servants: 92% / 17% (66% / 22%)

On the headline weakness, the report is blunt. "Luxembourg fulfils 0% of OECD criteria on the strength of strategic framework and 0% on practice, compared to the OECD average of 38% and 32% respectively," it states, adding that such a framework is "essential to mitigate corruption risks in the public sector". GRECO had already flagged the absence of a comprehensive prevention strategy in its fifth-round evaluation.

Lobbying and disclosure gaps

The OECD acknowledges recent movement on lobbying: since 2024 Luxembourg has published an online register listing lobbyists' names, organisations and areas of activity. But it finds the architecture incomplete. Sanctions for breaches apply only to members of parliament under their Code of Conduct, not to all public officials, and no central-government body supervises the system.

In Luxembourg, a public body dedicated to monitoring lobbying activities has not been established.

Disclosure of officials' private interests is the other conspicuous hole. All members of parliament filed interest declarations between 2019 and 2024, the report notes, yet equivalent data is "not available" for members of the government. National judges face no obligation to declare their interests, and prosecutors none to declare interests or assets. On access to information, the OECD observes that the land registry and the asset and interest declarations "of the top-two tiers of public employees in the executive branch and members of the judiciary are not available".

What the government says

The findings cut across the reform agenda of the CSV-DP coalition led by Prime Minister Luc Frieden, sworn in in November 2023. According to the Commission's 2025 Rule of Law Report, published on 8 July 2025, the government is considering proposing a formal anti-corruption strategy and additional measures, and the Committee for the Prevention of Corruption (COPRECO) — the inter-ministerial body chaired by the Minister of Justice — was due to present concrete steps to implement the OECD's recommendations in early 2026.

Justice Minister Elisabeth Margue, in office since November 2023, chairs that committee. The Commission also recorded progress elsewhere: Luxembourg "fully implemented" a recommendation to complete the reform of the powers of its judicial council. The National Council of Justice, created by the Law of 23 January 2023 and operational since July that year, now appoints, appraises and disciplines magistrates, with judges holding a majority of its nine seats — though some structures, such as dedicated disciplinary courts, remain to be set up.

Why it matters

Luxembourg consistently ranks among the world's least corrupt countries in perception surveys, and its supervisors have won praise for anti-money-laundering work. The OECD's contribution is more granular: it measures whether integrity rules are actually operating, and on that test it finds a financial-services hub that has not yet built the strategy, oversight and disclosure machinery its peers take for granted. For a jurisdiction whose competitive edge is trust, the gap between law and practice is the part hardest to explain to investors — and the part the Frieden government has promised, but not yet delivered, to close.