Debate: Activities of the European Ombudsman – annual report
Date: TUESDAY, 16 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Maroš Šefčovič
Language: EN

I would like to underline that for the Commission, good administration is not only a concept; we see it as a right enshrined in the Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The demands and the needs of EU citizens, businesses and associations for transparent, accessible and efficient EU institutions based on the principles of non-discrimination, impartiality, objectivity and fairness are therefore legitimate, reasonable and valid. In this particular case, we have total agreement with most of the interventions here this evening. That is why the cooperation between the European Ombudsman and the EU institution is of key importance. I would also like to thank once again Madam O’Reilly, her team, our rapporteur and the rapporteurs from the different groups for their work and good cooperation with the Commission. I congratulate the Ombudsman for the great support of this House. Most of the interventions have been focused on the issue of the special report on delays in dealing with access to documents requests. If you would allow me to add just a few pieces of information in this regard: this is the first time since 2012 that the Ombudsman issues a special report concerning the Commission. We have, of course, taken note of the special report which was submitted to the European Parliament in September of last year, and we stand ready to engage in the discussion with the European Parliament before the relevant committee on this matter and explain what it does to enhance the handling of the request for public access to documents. The matter, I would like to assure you, is of great importance for the Commission and the EU institutions committed to transparency. At this point, the Commission wishes to reiterate that the vast majority of the requests for access to documents submitted to the Commission are handled in a timely manner. The issue of delays mainly concerned requests from applicants to review the initial replies of the institution, the so-called confirmatory applications. This only represents approximately 4.4% of all requests received by the Commission. The Commission is already implementing most of the suggestions of the European Ombudsman, so I believe that this figure will be further improved. In particular, we have recently decided to allocate more resources to dealing with confirmatory applications. To conclude, I would just like to highlight one more very important factor that, if you are talking about handling of the requests for public access to documents, it’s important to highlight that the Commission is able, in general, to process requests for access to documents within the time limits prescribed. In 2021, the average duration in working days for the Commission to take the decision on an initial request for public access was 20 days – not 30, but 20 days. Of course, if you are talking about the confirmatory requests, here very often what happens is that this is a subsequent request coming from the applicants who are not fully satisfied with the first response. This is an issue where we are talking about 355 requests out of 8420 in 2021, or 418 out of 7410 in 2022. Therefore, the conclusion that this is a systemic problem that affects the handling of requests for public access in general is something which we would like to discuss with Madam Ombudsman, but also in the discussions we will have in the relevant committee. The reason why it takes longer, and this will be my last point, is that the processing of this request is affected by the fact that they are very often particularly complex due to their legal and technical nature. We not only have to look at the legality of the request, but we also have to do thorough research and make sure that we respect the legal requirements resulting from other EU acts, as well as the integration of the fast-evolving case-law of the EU Court of Justice on this matter. To conclude, I just would like to reiterate that we are ready to work constructively with Madam O’Reilly and her team, as well as with the honourable Members of this Parliament, to further improve the process and to make sure that our citizens will get all the necessary information in a transparent and speedy manner.