Corruption in European cities: the view of local councillors

Corruption is a major threat to the quality of government. This is also true for the lowest level of government: the localities (Rothstein et al. 2013). However, we know relatively little about corruption at the local level, nor about its perception among local decision makers (Márquez Romo und Romero‐Vidal 2023). We will address this research gap analyzing original data from a survey conducted among councilors of European cities. In total, the database comprises respondents of 28 European countries. We will explore their perception of corruption in the public service, and among the elected politicians. We will also investigate their level of trust in the integrity mechanisms that aims to contain corruption. We will look for factors that shape their perceptions, such as their personal characteristics, their political background, and their satisfaction with their salaries.