On Wednesday 17 January, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, advised the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, to suspend his membership of the 'Group of Thirty' (G30), a private organisation that describes itself as a discussion forum and is made up of public and private sector bankers, until the end of his term in office.
There was a first complaint about the ECB's involvement in the activities of the G30 in 2012, but at the time, the European Ombudsman found that this did not harm the independence, reputation or integrity of the ECB. Following a further complaint in 2016 bought by the NGO Corporate Europe Observatory (see EUROPE 10505), the Ombudsman decided to reopen the investigation, partly due to new supervisory powers entrusted to the ECB.
According to O'Reilly, it is important to show that there is a clear separation between the ECB as supervisor and the financial sector that is affected by its decisions. G30 members include representatives of banks that are directly controlled by the ECB (Santander and Bayerische Landesbank), as single supervisor within Banking union in the Eurozone.
The Ombudsman also recommended that future ECB Presidents do not become members of the G30, “in order to protect the Bank and its President from any perception that the Bank's independence could be compromised”. However, she finds that the ECB can legitimately continue to take part in certain public activities of the G30, as long as these are subject to the same transparency measures as for other meetings between members of the ECB and the banking sector, including the disclosure of meeting agendas and minutes of the discussions.
In a press release, San Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany) calls upon Draghi to act on the recommendation. “The ECB must now take the criticism of lack of transparency and conflicts of interest by EU authorities seriously”, he immediately responded.
The association which brought the complaint hailed the decision and expressed its hopes that the ECB will immediately implement the Ombudsman's recommendations. The monetary institute has until 15 April to respond. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)