Debate: Activities of the European Ombudsman – annual report
Date: TUESDAY, 16 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: EMILY O'REILLY
Language: EN

I’d like to thank Executive Vice-President Šefčovič for his comments on the special report.  Statistics can go so far. We acknowledge fully that the Commission is very good at the initial stage in terms of sticking to deadlines and so on. We’re talking about the appeal stage and very often cases that may be complex, but sometimes they’re not so complex, they’re simply a little bit sensitive for whatever reason. I acknowledge that sometimes cases are complex. You may have to liaise with other Member States or with other institutions or individuals in relation to it. They can be legally complex and all of that. But the deadlines are the deadlines, and if the deadlines are insufficient, then perhaps Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 should be changed in order to extend the deadlines, because, as I pointed out, citizens have to respect deadlines. So we get complaints from people who may have applied for a job through EPSO, who may have applied for a grant. They might be a day late, but it doesn’t matter: they’re not getting that job and they’re not getting that opportunity to apply for that job, and they’re not going to get the opportunity to have that grant. So I think that has to be that has to be recognised. But I’m very glad that the Executive Vice-President of the Commission has said that they will look carefully at the report, and I hope that you do, because, as you pointed out, it’s very rare that we do make a report to Parliament. We don’t do it on a whim. We do it when we’ve tried everything else and nothing has worked, and that’s why we seek your support.  And so thank you again for the comments that you have made. MEP Angel, again, I was pleased with what you had to say in relation to the European Parliament Bureau and the efforts you’re making in relation to increasing transparency. Transparency is not an end in itself; transparency is a gateway to accountability, so we very much look forward to seeing the results of that. Ms Toomb, emphasising the relevance of the special report which I have just alluded to. Ms Auken, Council transparency, we’ve spoken about that, and a lot of the work that we have done has been to make the work of that institution which makes decisions so critically important to every European citizen, especially now when the pace of events can be overwhelming for people – to make that work and more transparent without damaging interests that need to be protected.  The issue of the vaccines came up, MEP Złotowski and MEP Joron, specifically in relation to the case that we did – text messages. I understand that the ECJ is dealing with that issue perhaps this year, so that should illuminate that particular matter further and give answers to questions that people still have.  Ms Ždanoka, you noted indeed the fact that it’s rare that the Parliament comes together in relation to any particular issue. MEP Polčák, the EIB environmental information – thank you for alluding to those particular cases. Ms Maestre, the need to avoid citizen scepticism and that is really critical because we see how citizen scepticism can be weaponised by bad actors to bad ends, and that is really, really important.  The Anti-Corruption Directive, Ms Strugariu, I know you’re working very hard on that, and you mentioned two areas, what you and I call soft corruption, conflicts of interest, revolving doors, very very important in relation to inappropriate influencing of the Parliament and the administration more generally. Ms Metz, yes, the animal cages issue in relation to the ECI. We are dealing with that as a complaint that you gave to us, and we will keep you and everybody updated on that. Vaccine procurement, MEP Fragkos, I’ve already alluded to that.  Thank you, MEP Saliba, for the positive comments on our work. The Recovery and Resilience Fund was also mentioned. MEP Kelly,  MEP López Aguilar, thank you very much indeed for for your comments. You mentioned the complementary role of the ECJ and ombudsprudence. And I think those, those points were, were very well made. Thank you very much indeed. Have a lovely evening and a very happy new year to you all.