07/07/2020 (Agence Europe) – Emily O'Reilly, the European Ombudsman, has decided to launch a formal inquiry into the European Commission's decision to award a contract to the American asset management firm BlackRock to research the question of integrating environmental and social factors into the oversight of banks (see EUROPE 12469/30). The news was announced on Tuesday 7 July by MEPs Damien Carême (Greens/EFA, France) and Marisa Matias (GUE/NGL, Portugal) and by the civil society organisation Change Finance, all three of whom brought the matter to the Ombudsman’s attention. The Ombudsman stated that all three complaints would be dealt with at the same time, and added that she intends to look more closely at how the Commission assessed the risk of a conflict of interest before awarding the contract to BlackRock. There have been a number of other efforts in Parliament to persuade the Commission to reverse its decision (see EUROPE 12510/20). To read the Ombudsman's letter to Damien Carême, go to: https://bit.ly/31RZOdH (MF)