Brussels, 23/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 23 September, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, called on the European Commission to tighten up its internal processes to examine the phenomenon of “revolving doors”, whereby European civil servants leave to work for lobbyists they got to know in their previous positions (and vice versa), in order to rule out any possibility of conflicts of interest.
O'Reilly who is from Ireland and who presented the annual results sheet for 2013, made 16 recommendations, upholding complaints made by NGOs which prompted her to look into 54 cases of “revolving doors”. Amongst other things, the Ombudsman recommends that the Commission regularly publish all relevant information on senior European officials who leave the administration for jobs elsewhere, including their names. “We can understand the problems related to data protection,” but general interest should justify this publication, she argued. The Commission should, amongst other things, ensure that staff responsible for overseeing these civil servants leaving for other sectors have no direct professional link to the official in question. The staff should also be informed that their obligation “always to behave with integrity and discretion when accepting various positions or advantages” carries no time limit. The Ombudsman also recommends that an internal register be created, to centralise applications by EU officials wishing to go and work in the private sector and to list potential problems of conflicts of interest regarding professionals joining the institution. The Ombudsman believes that the Commission should inform her whenever it declines to publish a case of “revolving doors” concerning a senior official.
The NGOs which prompted the initiative, Corporate Europe Observatory, Greenpeace, Lobbycontrol and Spinwatch, welcomed these commitments. As regards statistics, the Ombudsman helped 23,245 people in 2013; 19,418 opinions were given on her website; 2,420 complaints were registered; and 1,407 requests for information were dealt with by the services of the Ombudsman. Nine own-initiative investigations were opened, 20 such were concluded and 341 investigations were opened on the basis of complaints; a further 441 investigations were triggered on the basis of complaints which had been closed. 64.3% of the investigations carried out by the Ombudsman in 2013 concerned the European Commission and 24% the agencies of the Union. The investigations closed in 2013 mainly concerned transparency and access to documents. Most of the complaints received in 2013 came from Spain (416 complaints), followed by Germany (269), Poland (248) and Belgium (153). Belgium took the lead for the number of investigations opened on the basis of complaints, followed by Germany, Italy and Spain. This is entirely logical, as Brussels is home to many NGOs active in the field of transparency issues. (SP)