Commission needs ‘strong accountability mechanism’ says EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly

The European Commission needs to be more accountable and more transparent about which powers are influencing it, and more open to hearing from all interested parties, according to Emily O’Reilly, who is stepping down as EU Ombudsman. She spoke to Euronews’ Isabel Marques da Silva about the accomplishments and challenges of her time in office. Isabel began by asking her about a recently-launched Ombudsman inquiry into the Commission’s relaxing of rules relating to the Common Agricultural Policy.  

“We will be inspecting the documents in relation to that and we will be interviewing the officials who are involved in that,” O’Reillly said. “This is about the Common Agricultural Policy and changes that were made that were seen to make what farmers had to do in relation to environmental protection, a little less onerous, a little less difficult. And of course, you will recall that there were indeed major farmers demonstrations in this city and elsewhere. And following on from that, these changes were made.

“So organisations that are involved in environmental protection were concerned about this because – according to the complaint that we got – the only people that were consulted were farming organisations. So we’re trying to find out basically what happened, you know, how did you go about making these changes? Who did you consult? What did you take into consideration? And once we get those answers, then we’ll make a decision in relation to whether they did it properly or whether we need to make recommendations in relation to how they will do it in the future, or we just simply give them general guidance in relation to how they should properly manage these particular issues which are of huge concern to citizens,” she said.

Serving public interest

So are the institutions and the key decision-makers more accessible and accountable to the ordinary citizens than they were a decade ago, thanks to the work of the Ombudsman’s office?

“I think there’s a greater awareness of it,” O’Reilly says. “Certainly within the Commission, both because of, you know, the work that we’ve done, the work the media has done, the work the civil society and others have done as well. But sometimes issues still arise, you know, and sometimes you’re looking at these things on a case by case basis. But I think overall, culturally, there’s a greater acceptance of the need for a better balance when major issues of public interest are being decided. Everybody’s voice has to be heard,” she adds.

Small office, big mandate

The role of the Ombudsman as a watchdog of the EU’s institutions and agencies as evloved during O’Reilly’s time in office. But she herself feels the monitoring body must remain ever-vigilant. What advice would she have for her successor?

“My advice would be do what you’re supposed to do. The European ombudsman, I say it’s a small office with a big mandate. It is the watchdog of the entire European administration. It’s not a little office that deals with little complaints and keeps its head down. It really has to inhabit that role. And that is what I’ve tried to do over the last 11 years.”

Click on the video above to see the interview in full