Brusseks, 04/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 4 February 2013, European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros rejected a complaint by Corporate Europe Observatory that the independence, reputation and integrity of the European Central Bank has been damaged by the fact that its president, Mario Draghi, is a member of the Group of Thirty (see EUROPE 10683).
Diamandouros says that G30 members, the group's finance and objectives are too diverse for it to be seen as a lobby group. Fewer than a third of the G30's members at present are from the private sector, the others being from academia and the public sector. Chaired by former ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, it receives funding from a number of private and public sources and deals with a wide range of topics, with a wide range of invited speakers. The Ombudsman therefore concludes that the G30 is simply a debating group.
In order to ensure transparency, the ECB is asked to make it clear on its website that Draghi belongs to the G30. The ECB is also asked to improve its communications policy. (MB/transl.fl)