EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem has presented a full report on the problem.

This report has not been without controversy. Its release was delayed for months, and some countries were critical of the European Commission for interfering in areas which they believed were none of its business.

Originally, the report was also supposed to have included a chapter assessing corruption within EU institutions as well as within member states. But that idea was dropped.

The commission's estimate that corruption is costing the EU economy about 120bn euros - the size of the EU's annual budget - could well be a conservative one. Other experts believe the real figure is probably higher.