Government Code of Conduct: A Way to Prevent Economic Corruption or Just a Propaganda Initiative?

This article aims to analyse, in the light of general principles of conduct, the performance of the duties of Government members. The objective is to analyze the code of conduct published by the Portuguese Government (Council of Ministers Resolution No.184/2019, of December 3, 2019) in comparison with other legislative and doctrinal initiatives at the international level. It should be noted that the analysis will focus primarily on whether governments' codes of conduct are more of a charm operation or propaganda initiative, as a reaction to any more recent scandal (nepotism, as it became known in Portugal, the family gate - family relations between Government members), than as a reaction to the phenomenon of economic corruption.