After the Parliament subsequently set out more detailed proposals for reform, the Ombudsman identified additional areas that might benefit from greater clarity or be further explained, and sent a set of questions to the European Parliament President with a view to clarifying this.

The Ombudsman welcomed the information provided to her by the Parliament within this initiative, which makes clear that progress on the reform has been made. The Parliament has strengthened its rules, notably as regards the transparency of Members’ declarations of private interests, conflicts of interest and declarations of meetings with interest representatives. A new ‘transparency webpage’ on the Parliament’s website is also a positive step.

There was, however, insufficient transparency of the reform process itself, with most of the discussions taking place in forums that were not public, and with limited relevant documents made available to the public. This was particularly the case for decisions adopted by the Bureau of the European Parliament.

The Ombudsman decided to close the strategic initiative, setting out questions that the Parliament should still address to make sure the new rules are implemented effectively. These concerned, in particular, how the Parliament organises the monitoring and reporting of potential breaches of the rules, notably within the Advisory Committee for the Code of Conduct.