In response to revelations that a (former) director-general at the European Commission travelled to Qatar and received related hospitality paid for by third parties, giving rise to conflict of interest concerns, the Commission updated its rules concerning third-party contributions to work travel. In the context of a previous initiative, the Ombudsman concluded that, if applied diligently, these rules would prevent conflicts of interest with such third-party contributions. However, the initiative revealed a few cases of work travel by senior Commission staff members that were paid for by third parties.

Against this background, the Ombudsman carried out an own-initiative inquiry to review a sample of such cases, prior to the entry into force of the updated rules. The inquiry aimed to determine how the Commission assessed potential conflicts of interest related to work travel paid for by third parties, and what steps it took to mitigate the risks of any conflicts of interest.

The inquiry did not identify any case that gave rise to conflict of interest concerns, other than those of the (former) Commission director-general. The inquiry identified wider issues concerning how the Commission handled the travel and hospitality at issue. However, given that the European Anti-Fraud Office has investigated the matter and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has started an investigation, the Ombudsman considered that no further inquiries into the matter were justified.

That said the inquiry demonstrated shortcomings in how the Commission implemented its previous rules on work travel, notably that the Commission did not record how it had substantively assessed the risks of conflict of interest related to third-party contributions. The Commission also failed to record the value of the third party contributions. As these shortcomings are still relevant to how the Commission applies the updated rules, the Ombudsman made two suggestions for improvement.