That's of course what's legal "over the counter". Now look under the table and you find the real bribes. Just from the past decade of french politics i could na

That's of course what's legal "over the counter". Now look under the table and you find the real bribes. Just from the past decade of french politics i could name at least half a dozen major bribery/collusion scandals that resulted in no punishment for the criminals in power. And of course, as someone else pointed out, you don't necessarily need to take a bribe right now when you know you can quit your job as a regulator to earn 6 digits working for industry. That's a common bargain with regulators, but it's not even just them. You could say the same about journalists, who at least here in France, often refrain from criticizing private propaganda machines (Lagardère/Bolloré/Bouygues/LVMH empires who control >50% of media) because they don't want to compromise their chances of getting a job with them later.