In a letter dated Friday 27 January, EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly welcomes the European Parliament President’s proposals to strengthen the ethics and transparency rules of the European institution, which is plagued by an alleged corruption scandal (see EUROPE 13097/2). She also urges Roberta Metsola to initiate a reform process that is “as transparent as possible”, with a timeline and details of the next intended steps.
In particular, Ms O’Reilly agrees with Ms von der Leyen’s proposals to introduce a ‘cooling-off period’ which would prohibit a former MEP, for a period to be defined, from lobbying the European Parliament for private interests. She also welcomes the publication of meetings between all MEPs and their staff with interest groups and third country representatives.
The more transparent the income of MEPs, the better, Ms O’Reilly added. She also calls for the reinforcement of the competences of the advisory committee in charge of monitoring the application of the code of conduct for elected MEPs.
See the letter from the European Ombudsman: https://aeur.eu/f/54p (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)