Following reports that the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) had closed an investigation into a potential breach of ethics rules by a former commissioner in relation to post-mandate activities with transport platform Uber, the Ombudsman wrote to the European Commission to seek clarifications. In particular, the Ombudsman noted that the Commission's Ethics Committee had previously raised concerns about the possible activities and the former commissioner subsequently withdrew her request to work for Uber, and the fact that the Commission has now decided not to pursue the matter further. The initiative sought to clarify whether it has made any improvements to the ethics rules for current and former EU commissioners (the code of conduct) in light of the affair.

The Ombudsman found that the Commission had not changed its ethics rules since 2018. However, following the launch of the Ombudsman’s initiative, the Commission’s Secretary-General reminded commissioners in writing of their post-mandate obligations, notably concerning exploratory contacts with possible future employers while still in office and where an actual or perceived conflict of interest may exist.

While this is welcome, the Ombudsman notes that the Commission does not intend to make public all opinions of the ethics committee, and notably negative opinions. She urged the Commission to improve the transparency regarding the authorisation of post-mandate activities of former commissioners, at a minimum concerning statistical information on notifications from (former) commissioners for post-mandate work and negative opinions of the ethics committee. The Ombudsman also suggested that the Commission update the commissioners’ code of conduct to include its approach to exploratory contacts with possible future employers