On Thursday 18 January, the ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) held an exchange of views on the scope and powers of the future European Ethics Body.
This initial discussion at political level has not enabled the Council of the EU to agree on a common position to defend in the ongoing negotiations with the other EU institutions and bodies that are likely to become members of this European body (see EUROPE 13197/14). But the aim would appear to be to achieve this on Wednesday 24 January.
Several observers have noted that France has taken a proactive stance, wishing to strengthen the proposal on the table by enabling the European Ethics Body to monitor the declarations of financial interests and assets of political members of participating EU bodies and institutions. This monitoring would be carried out by the five independent experts suggested by the Commission, who would make recommendations to the Body as a whole.
After several technical meetings, the next session of political negotiations between the participating bodies and institutions will take place on Tuesday 30 January. For a decision on the creation of the European body to be possible within the current legislative cycle, an inter-institutional political agreement would have to be reached by February at the latest, so that the European Parliament could validate it before the last plenary session, scheduled for April.
During preliminary technical discussions, the Member States seemed to be in favour of the work of the Ethics Body encompassing the functions of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and the President of the European Council (see EUROPE 13294/22). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)