Ms Ursula von der Leyen President European Commission

 

Dear President,

The transparency of lobbying activities is important to foster public trust in the EU administration’s interactions with interest representatives and in order to promote a strong culture of ethics.

In the context of previous correspondence on the subject of missions of senior Commission staff member that are paid for (partially) by organisers or third parties, the Commission shared statistical information about such work travel in confidence with the Ombudsman.[1]

From this information, it became clear that the total volume of work travel paid for by third parties was comparatively small. There were however a number of trips, including at the highest level of the EU’s civil service, which involved contributions of third countries and corporate interests.

Against this background, I have decided to open an inquiry to examine a representative sample of these work travel arrangements including their authorisation, with a view to assessing whether and how the Commission mitigated any risks of conflicts of interest that may have arisen.

As a first step, it would be useful to receive a list of the missions carried out by senior officials, from 2021 to 7 March 2023, for which third countries or any type of private interest[2] covered costs. The list should include details on who went (name and title), when, where, purpose of the mission or authorised travel, and who paid.^[3] I trust that the Commission has this information readily available, as it presumably used it to produce the statistical information referred to above.

I would be grateful to receive the Commission's reply by 29 February 2024.

In case of questions, the inquiries officer responsible is Mr Koen Roovers.

Yours sincerely,

Emily O'Reilly
European Ombudsman

Strasbourg, 02/02/2024

 

[1] See: https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/doc/correspondence/en/178996.

[2] Private interests include, but are not necessarily limited to, companies, organisations and associations.

[3] The Commission has provided this type of information in reply to a request for public access to documents before. See the document with the following reference: Ares(2023)1112208 of 15/02/2023.