In response to the unprecedented situation created by COVID-19, many of the EU institutions, agencies and bodies were required to adopt targeted measures and/or to adapt their working processes to deal with the challenges of the emergency. These ranged from helping to coordinate the public health response in the EU and the approval of dedicated medicines to economic measures to address the social ...

The European Ombudsman has opened three inquiries related to the disclosure of environmental information by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The inquiries are all based on one complaint by the environmental group, ClientEarth. One inquiry concerns the EIB’s refusal to grant public access to the minutes of meetings in which its management committee discussed the financing of a biomass project. T...

The Ombudsman has opened an inquiry into why the European Commission did not finalise an updated Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) before the conclusion of the Mercosur-EU trade agreement in June 2019.

The complainants - five civil society organisations - argue that by not taking this step the Commission disregarded its own guidelines on SIAs and breached the EU Treaty, which contains sustainability goals for all EU trade.

The Ombudsman is investigating the European Commission’s decision to award BlackRock Investment Management a contract for carrying out a study on integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and objectives into the EU banking supervision system.

As part of the inquiry, which seeks to examine how the Commission assessed the risk of conflicts of interest posed by BlackRock’s tender, the Ombudsman plans to inspect the Commission’s file and to discuss the matter with the Commission.

The Ombudsman has published a set of recommendations to the EU administration on the use of official EU languages when communicating with the public. The EU is committed to respecting and safeguarding linguistic diversity. Applying the principle of multilingualism is of paramount importance for relations between the EU and its citizens. These practical recommendations aim to reconcile this commitm...

In April, the European Ombudsman submitted a contribution to the European Commission's consultation on the role of national human rights institutions, ombudsman institutions and equality bodies in making the Charter of Fundamental Rights a reality in people's lives. The consultation was organised in the context of the Commission's preparation of its new strategy on the Charter. Vice-President of t...

The Ombudsman has found there were no undue delays in how the European Medicine Agency (EMA) handled a request to authorise a medicine used to treat cystic fibrosis, and commends the clear and attentive way EMA communicated with the complainant whose son has this serious illness. During the Ombudsman’s inquiry the medicine was approved. The complainant’s three-year-old son has a specific form of c...

2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the European Ombudsman. From small beginnings in 1995, the institution has grown to become a recognised and respected upholder of transparency, ethics and accountability in the EU administration. Discover more about the Ombudsman's history, our main areas of work and the key inquiries over the past years on our dedicated webpage. You can follow all our activities...

European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly has found that the European Banking Authority (EBA) should not have allowed its former Executive Director to become CEO of a financial lobby association. The Ombudsman also found the EBA did not immediately put in place sufficient internal safeguards to protect its confidential information when the planned move became clear. Read here the press release.

The Ombudsman has welcomed the Council of the EU’s decision to consider issuing guidelines on corporate sponsorship for Member States holding the six-month EU presidencies.