Czech Republic is corrupt Freedom House says - Prague Daily Monitor
PRAGUE, Dec 22 (CTK) - The Czech society is free, but corrupt, the U.S. human rights protection organisation Freedom House has concluded in its annual report, daily Pravo writes today.

The report highly praises the country for political rights and ranks Czechs among the 46 percent of earth inhabitants who live in the environment of civic freedoms, Pravo writes.

Freedom House also says that the Czech Republic is a stable democracy that respects the rule of law and human rights.

It however notes that the Czech Republic still faces certain difficult hangovers from the times of Soviet influence, including extensive corruption that is present in many sectors of society, Pravo writes.

What should be kept in mind is that a lot of the corruption is perceived rather than actually experienced. Also, the "good old" communist corruption was very much consumer-oriented - e.g. paying off your butcher or hair-stylist to give you preferrential treatment. Today's corruption is much more mainstream - business to government, although, I've heard reports of people bribing doctor, but it seems more out of habit than real need. Personally, I have both run a business and been treated by doctors in the Czech Republic and never even had a whiff of a bribe being expected, although my experiences were never at a high enough level.