The European Ombudsman driving positive change: Following an inquiry by the Ombudsman’s Office, the European Commission has agreed to put in place several measures to ensure that external experts who evaluate project proposals for the European Defence Fund (EDF) do not have any conflicts of interest.

The measures include asking expert candidates to list family members with links to the defence industry and to outline their direct financial investments in defence companies. The Commission will assess these types of interests at an early stage in the selection process. It will also keep a structured record of any assessments and decisions it makes on these matters.

Other steps include enhancing the IT tool for managing the evaluation of EDF proposals so that it can automatically search for potential conflict of interest details beyond the information already given by the experts themselves.  

Ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho welcomed the efforts by the Commission to strengthen its integrity rules in this area.

The inquiry was launched in 2023 after correspondence with the Commission indicated that it largely relied on experts’ self-declarations to prevent potential conflicts of interest.

Background

By evaluating project proposals, carrying out ethics assessments, and making cost estimations, independent experts help the Commission to decide which projects should receive financial backing from the EDF.

The EDF came into being in January 2021 and has a budget of EUR8 billion for the period 2021-2027.