Corruption across the European Union's 28 countries costs about 120 billion euros ($A186.54 billion) per year - a "breathtaking" sum equal to the EU's entire annual budget, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem says.
Malmstroem said on Monday the actual figure could be even higher, despite the estimate amounting to a little less than one per cent of the bloc's total economic output.
"The extent of the problem in the EU is breathtaking," Malmstroem wrote in an op-ed piece in Swedish newspaper Goeteborgs-Posten.
"Corruption undermines faith in democratic institutions, drains the legal economy of resources and is a breeding ground for organised crime."
Presenting the European Commission report, the bloc's first, Malmstroem emphasised the figure was "an estimation" and said the actual amount is "probably... much higher."
She called on member states to do more to stamp out the problem, saying: "The price of not acting is simply too high."
The report does not rank the countries as to the seriousness of the problem nor suggest legal remedies, with Malmstroem saying that could follow after talks with member states.
But "one thing is very clear -- there is no 'corruption-free' zone in Europe," she said.
While Malmstroem refused to point the finger at any particular country, the EU has had longstanding concerns about corruption in Bulgaria and Romania, especially over their use of EU funds, and both were put under a special monitoring mechanism when they joined the bloc in 2007.
