The European Ethics Body, which will be the subject of a proposal for an interinstitutional agreement in “May”, should be limited to drawing up standards that can be applied by all EU institutions and bodies, said European Commissioner for Values Věra Jourová on Tuesday 25 April before the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs.
“We are in the process of finalising a very detailed proposal” for a body that will cover all EU institutions and bodies (Article 13 TEU) and set “standards” for ethics, but will not carry out “any investigations” into specific cases, said Ms Jourová. In her opinion, in order to grant investigative powers – and therefore also the power to impose sanctions in the event that common standards are infringed – to the future European body, “an institutional agreement would no longer suffice”.
Each relevant institution and body will thus maintain its own internal structures for applying common rules and will conduct its own investigations.
Instead, MEPs would like to see the European Ethics Body initially cover only the European Commission and the European Parliament, with a view to giving it stronger powers of investigation (see EUROPE 13123/4).
According to the EU Commissioner, if the rules and standards are set properly once the body is up and running, “it would be possible to regain the trust that was lost” when the alleged scandal of MEPs being bribed by third countries broke at the end of 2022.
On Tuesday, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, told the press about recent discussions with the European Commission over the shape of the future European Ethics Body. She emphasised the importance of this new body that would provide “added value” to the existing situation. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Nithya Paquiry)