The appointment of the next European Data Protection Supervisor took a new turn on Thursday 28 August, with the European Ombudsman opening an inquiry into the Commission’s failure to respond to several complaints about the appointment process.
The Ombudsman’s inquiry, which concerns the Commission’s failure to respond to complaints received and not the process itself, stems from a complaint lodged at the beginning of August. According to information from Euronews, confirmed to Agence Europe, the European Ombudsman has received two complaints concerning the Commission’s refusal to respond to possible conflicts of interest concerning one of the two candidates for the post, Italy’s Bruno Gencarelli.
The post of European Data Protection Supervisor has been vacant since last December, when the term of office for its previous holder, Poland’s Wojciech Wiewiórowski, expired.
Since then, several attempts to find a replacement have failed, with the Parliament and the Member States each supporting a different candidate (see EUROPE 13619/5). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)