Ireland’s Emily O'Reilly was re-elected as EU Ombudsman on Wednesday 18 December after a tight third round against Franco-Estonian Julia Laffranque. The Irish woman obtained 320 votes against 280 for the other candidate out of 600 votes cast.
In the second round, the two women came out on top, ahead of Italy's Giuseppe Fortunato (58 votes) and Sweden's Cecilia Wikström (38 votes). Latvian Nils Muižnieks, who finished 5th in the first round on Tuesday 17 December, withdrew his application (see EUROPE 12392/10).
“For the next 5 years, I will help ensure the EU maintains the highest standards in administration, transparency and ethics”, said Mrs O'Reilly.
One priority “will remain tackling the lack of the transparency of EU law making by national governments in Brussels”.
The European Trade Commissioner, Phil Hogan, praised the victory of his compatriot, seeing in this vote a “strong mark of confidence” and the “recognition of the good work done in recent years”. The European Ombudsman “has become an important pillar of the European institutions” and “deserves our full support”. The Commission will continue to work “in an open and constructive spirit”. The Commissioner pointed out that 5% of the cases handled by the Ombudsman had highlighted proven cases of maladministration, a sign that the Commission had “improved”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)