During the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels (08-11 March 2021), MEPs debate the Activities of the European Ombudsman - annual report 2019. Opening statement by Sylvie GUILLAUME (S&D,FR), rapporteur, Emily O’REILLY, European Ombudsman and by Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS, European Commissioner for Environment.

Brussels

statement

debate

plenary session

GUILLAUME, Sylvie (S&D, FR)

O'REILLY, Emily (IE)

annual report of the European Ombudsman (T)

Ombudsman (T2)

SINKEVIČIUS, Virginijus (LT, EC)

Activities of the European Ombudsman - annual report 2019: opening statement by Sylvie GUILLAUME (S&D,FR), rapporteur, Emily O’REILLY, European Ombudsman and by Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS, European Commissioner for Environment

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sylvie GUILLAUME (S&amp;D, FR), Madam President, Madam Ombudsman, colleagues, the report that we're voting on this week covers the activities of the Ombudsman in 2019 as rapporteur for this file. I would like to congratulate you, Emily O'Reilly, because you have worked tirelessly throughout your previous term in office and 2019, with the last year of that term, you have worked hard to ensure the highest ethical standards in the institutions and to the agencies of the European Union. You have dealt with cases of conflicts of interest and ensured the transparency of the activities of the institutions for the public.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sylvie GUILLAUME (S&amp;D, FR), You have allowed for a greater degree of accountability to citizens. I would also like to also stress an aspect of your work that's very important for citizens who enter complaints and who read the, um, the report, and that is the responses to citizens. They're enshrined in the treaty. Citizens should have their complaints dealt with in a fair manner, in an equitable manner and within a reasonable period of time. 2200, all the complaints were dealt with in 2019. Many of those were completed and 400 different investigations were carried out. There were eight initiative enquiries carried out and there were enquiries that dealt with the systemic issues to try and improve the response to our citizens.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sylvie GUILLAUME (S&amp;D, FR), I would also like to stress that new systems put in place to speed up the dealing with complaints. And I'm pleased to see this new strategy running up to the year 2024, which confirms this effort. The Ombudsman was re-elected at the end of her term in office in the end of 2019, which I think is a testimony to her untiring efforts. We now need to ensure that the ombudsman's office has all of the resources required to work fully because the Ombudsman's office guarantees the openness of the European institutions.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sylvie GUILLAUME (S&amp;D, FR), There needs to be a more systematic and positive response to the recommendations issued by the Ombudsman. In the 25 years of the European Ombudsman's office, there have been a process of learning and developing. Now we're in a position to build upon your work over the previous term of office, and you have a lot of interesting work ahead of you for the future. Since the end of last year, we've had the Covid crisis, which has changed a lot of work to be done. But despite the radical changes that have had to be carried out, the function of the Ombudsman's office remain more precious than ever. And we need to guarantee accountability of our institutions and agencies, transparency and accountability and effectiveness.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sylvie GUILLAUME (S&amp;D, FR), There are all the categories, the criteria for an excellent administration. So let's look forward to next year's annual report. I know that some of my colleagues wanted to pre-empt that report. There have been a number of rather shocking cases, but we will have time to deal with that next year. I'm sure we'll hear about vaccinations, BlackRock, McKinsey, and we can all look forward to it. I hope that will continue with the same demanding approach and your enquiries and your recommendations, because that is what has characterised this very unusual year.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman, President, honourable members, good evening. I'd like to begin by, first of all, thanking Madame Guillaume and all of the shadow rapporteurs for your work on this report. And I also welcome the president of commissioners. Think of it today as well. But I would also like to begin by thanking the staff of the parliament who have worked so hard for this last year to ensure the continuation of its important work and to keep everyone safe. I also thank my own staff for ensuring that our service to the public continues at a high level, despite the personal and professional challenges that all of us have experience.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman, As Madam Guillaume has alluded to, this devastating pandemic has taught us many lessons, including the critical importance of trust in institutions, of being open and honest with the public in a time of crisis, of how everyone benefits from collaboration, and of how central public administrations remain in the resolution of major crises. All of these matters go to the heart of what an ombudsman does. In addition, the European Ombudsman is a part of the rule of law, infrastructure of this democratic union. I'm therefore heartened when I hear this parliament champions support for the rule of law in the member states, aware that this support must also be demonstrated and everything the EU administration itself does.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman, All of these issues have been reflected in the complaints that I received in 2020 and which I have sought to address through my own initiative, strategic work never more so than in challenging times, are the highest standards of good administration and transparency required to reassure the public that decisions taken are correct, proportionate and transparent, and that measures will be implemented properly and fairly. In the absence of that, public trust will decline and the challenges faced by administrations in encouraging the public to take certain actions to beat the pandemic may be hindered. Your report and our debate today concerns the work of my office in 2019, which was the final year of my first full term and coincided with my re-election in December 2019.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman, I would like again to take the opportunity to thank you for your vote of confidence in my work. In 2019, over 2000 people submitted complaints to my office, a number of which I would like to highlight, one which has particular relevance in the current context, concerned the way in which the European Medicines Agency engages with pharmaceutical companies before they apply for authorisations to market their medicines. The enquiry, which also included a public consultation, resulted in the agency introducing measures to improve the independence and objectivity of the process. Specifically, EMA agreed to introduce a log of the scientific advice concerning medicines going through the market authorisation process.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman, This advice will be made public once the medicine is approved for sale in Europe. The agency has also said that to the greatest extent possible, the experts who are significantly involved in advising pharmaceutical companies in the pre market application phase will not be those who draught EMA's evaluation report for a new medicine. In the current context, where EMA has been required to make recommendations on vaccines for covid-19 in record time. It has been working with a fast track procedure and this is something I'm currently looking into as part of my work in 20/20. Parliament will be well aware of my officers ongoing work on Council transparency and two cases in particular demonstrate how the absence of such transparency has important real life consequences.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman, One concerned the council's refusal to increase the transparency around the way in which national ministers negotiate the annual EU fishing quotas. And I've been listening with interest to the debate that preceded this. The all night negotiations are legendary and their secrecy has long been taken for granted. But the world has never before been as acutely conscious of fish stocks and sustainability, and the EU never before as ambitious about the protection of our fragile environment. A new approach, in my view, is therefore imperative. Some advances in transparency have been made by the commissioner last year, but more needs to be done by the Council.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman, Another case concerned the lack of transparency around the positions of national authorities on the risk assessment of the effect of pesticides on bees. This involved guidance given by EFSA as far back as 2013, almost eight years ago, and which has yet to be acted on. The lack of transparency allows this vital advice simply to sit there with no capacity for the public to influence the change because they are not allowed to know who is blocking the adoption of this guidance. I fully appreciate the need for space to deliberate, but not as in this case, apparently indefinitely.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman, An important enquiry I closed in 2019 concerning the way in which the then commission secretary general was appointed, despite an initial negative response to my recommendations within just a few months. The commission did conduct a specific appointment procedure for a new secretary general to serve under the new president President von der Leyen. That case demonstrated a notable feature of ombudsman work. Sometimes a result can be achieved immediately. At other times, it takes time for a recommendation to be fully realised, especially if it involves a change in the cultural mindset or a different approach by a different administration.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman,The two Council cases referenced above are cases in point, given the pressure for greater transparency encouraged by the pandemic and given the EU's great climate ambitions, I predict a different result should similar cases arise in the future in June 2019. It was my great pleasure to present the winners of the second edition of the Award for Good Administration, an important way of recognising the overwhelmingly good work of the administration. There were numerous inspiring projects with the overall award going to the teams from the European Commission that had worked on the EU initiative to reduce plastic pollution and raise awareness.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman, We are now looking forward to the third edition of the award, which will be held online in June of this year as European Ombudsman. I also coordinate the European Network of Ombudsmen, which comprises national and regional ombudsman institutions from 36 European countries and including the Parliament's Committee on petitions. The 2019 annual conference took place in April in the Parliament premises in Brussels and ahead of the European elections. The main theme was how to strengthen the participation of citizens in the democratic process. Looking ahead, I am eager to continue the implementation of our Towards 2024 strategy. I hope to achieve further positive impact on the EU administration, maintain the real life relevance of our work, and by raising public awareness of our activities and able citizens further to exercise their rights.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman, Madam President, Honourable Members, the Parliament and Ombudsman are important allies in ensuring accountability of the EU. The Parliament provides democratic oversight and my office provides administrative oversight. I thank you again for your great support for the office of the European Ombudsman and as we hopefully emerge from the pandemic. I greatly look forward to continuing our valuable work together over the coming years.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS, European Commissioner for Environment, Honourable chair, honourable members of the European Parliament, Miss O'Reilly, I'm very pleased to represent the Commission in this important debate today. Let me start by recalling the 25th anniversary of the European ombudsman that we celebrated in October 2020. And the essential role of this office plays in maintaining public trust in the European Union and ensuring that the Union's administration works in an open and transparent way and safeguarding the integral idea of European citizenship.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS, European Commissioner for Environment, I would like to take this opportunity to once again personally express my praise and gratitude to the current ombudsman, Mr. Riley, who has shown great dedication and commitment to her work. Turning to the main subject of today's discussion, the European Parliament's resolution and the report of the Committee on Petitions on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 2019. These are annual cornerstones of good administration in the EU, in the institutions, bodies, agencies and offices of the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS, European Commissioner for Environment, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur, Miss Sylvie Guillaume, on the coordinators of the committee and all its members who have been involved in this work as every year this report is provide the views of the European Parliament on the issues that it considers noteworthy in the area of good administration. For citizens, the field of action of the ombudsman is broad correspondence between the institutions and citizens, contractual issues between citizens or companies. And the European Administration laid contractual payments from institutions or agencies, requirement issues and other staff matters such as the implementation of anti-discrimination measures applying to requirement procedures.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS, European Commissioner for Environment, All of them remain in the remit of the Ombudsman. As always, transparency is high on the agenda, notably in the area of access to documents, international negotiations, advisory bodies or of the Eurogroup bodies, the transparency register, but also with other issues such as job changes between the public and private sectors and declaration and conflicts of interest. The commission has multiple interactions with citizens, businesses, associations and NGOs and is naturally the main address addressee of the Ombudsman enquiries. The commission attaches great importance to its relations with the Ombudsman and her services and is strongly committed to finding a solution to the problems raised by citizens. We will continue to work in this constructive spirit and hope all other institutions, bodies, offices and agencies do the same.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS, European Commissioner for Environment, Well, it is not always possible to reach agreement on every case. I am pleased to announce that the acceptance rate of the ombudsman's proposal by the commission has increased to 75 percent in the field of suggestions for improvement. The rate is even higher as the commission responded positively in 48 out of 53 cases in 2019. This is a clear demonstration of the constructive character of the relations between the Ombudsman and the commission and the EU administration in general.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS, European Commissioner for Environment, Further good news for European citizens is that decisions of maladministration by the Ombudsman have been very real. I conclude by noting the positive progress of the discussions on the Parliament's proposal to review the statute of the Ombudsman between the Council, the Parliament and the commission. All the teams involved, including the team of rapporteur Mr Paolo Rangel, have been collaborating in a very constructive and open manner. Honourable Chair. I look forward to hearing the views of the honourable members and I thank you for your attention.