Brussels, 04/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 4 February, the European Ombudsman called on the European Commission to complete its next report on corruption in the EU with a chapter on the integrity of the European institutions when faced with the particularly active lobby groups working in Brussels (see EUROPE 11010). Emily O'Reilly from Ireland pointed out in a press release that she receives complaints about the institutions very regularly, particularly with regard to accusations of conflicts of interest and the so-called “revolving door” cases when a commissioner or senior European official leaves to join a consultancy firm.
She asserted that “the EU administration has to live up to the very highest standards, especially when it comes to transparency, strict rules concerning conflicts of interest, and high integrity standards in the area of public procurement”. She concluded that, “in most of these areas, the EU institutions already have high standards in comparison to many national administrations. I encourage the Commission to take account of the forthcoming work of Transparency International on the integrity system of the EU institutions and to include the EU institutions in the next Anti-Corruption Report”.
On Monday 3 February, the Commission indicated that it would include the issue of European institutions in its next report planned for 2016. It was supposed to do so in the report this year but argued that there had been a problem involving independent self-evaluation and a lack of external sources.
Tuesday 4 February, the leader of the S&D Group at the European Parliament, Hannes Swoboda, proposed that member states provide an annual report on the action they were taking to tackle corruption and tax evasion and said: “We are proposing that member states present an annual report on how they are tackling corruption and tax fraud and the action they have undertaken. The European Commission will subsequently be able to examine what efforts are being made”. Swoboda stated that, for the time being, only perceptions of corruption existed, which did not necessarily reflect reality. For the first time on 3 February, the European Commission presented its Anticorruption Report for the EU, accompanied by a Eurobarometer survey. (SP and CG/transl.fl)