Emily O’Reilly has called for greater transparency as she prepares to step down as European Ombudsman.
Addressing the European Parliament for the final time to present the ombudsman’s annual report, Emily O’Reilly said it had been a year of significant change for the European Union.
And she warned that the time ahead would be challenging for the EU:
“The decisions you will take in the coming years will determine how the EU confronts an increasingly turbulent and uncertain global order, a world overflowing with challenges ranging from the economy and international trade to global security and potential climate catastrophe”, she warned.
“The actions of the EU institutions will also define how our [European] Union lives up to the values that we talk so much about transparency, accountability, respect for the rule of law, and the protection of fundamental rights.”
And she urged that “every decision taken must have the citizen, the public interest, front and centre.”
Emily O’Reilly is stepping down after ten years in the job as European Ombudsman.
When she was elected in 2013, she was the first woman in the role.
The job of the European Ombudsman is to hold EU institutions to account and Emily O’Reilly has been both praised and criticised for her zeal.
Even in her final speech to the European Parliament she did not hold back. She said the Council of the EU and the European Commission in particularly were too often too reluctant to provide access to information.
These institutions are using “exceptions under the EU access to documents law too broadly”, she warned.
As her tenure concludes, Emily O’Reilly urged the European Union to pledge to a continued commitment to public trust and accountability.
MEPs this week elected Portuguese national, Teresa Anjinho, as the next European Ombudsman. She is currently works for the European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, and was previously Deputy Ombudsman of Portugal.
She will take over from Emily O’Reilly at the end of February.