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EU: European Ombudsman: Letter to Claude Moraes MEP

04 March 2015

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Emily O'Reilly, the EU Ombudsman, says:

"In my decision, I therefore suggested that Parliament might wish to consider the various issues raised in this case. These include whether it is acceptable for arrangements to be agreed with a foreign government which have the consequence of undermining mechanisms established by or under the EU Treaties for the control of EU executive action....

I also understand that Parliament's Legal Service nevertheless takes the view that Europol was entitled to refuse to allow me to inspect the relevant document without the consent of the American authorities. I do not find this at all convincing. In my view, the Ombudsman's Statute clearly gives the Ombudsman the right to inspect documents like the one at issue in the Europol case....

It appears inconceivable to me that, in a union based on the rule of law, certain areas of the activity of the EU administration should be exempt from any external control whatsoever. If one were to accept the opinion put forward by the Parliament's Legal Service, which I do not, it would be a matter of real urgency to address the need to ensure that an agency such as Europol (or any other agency claiming it could not cooperate with the Ombudsman) is subject to external supervision." [emphasis added]

See the full text: Letter to Claude Moraes MEP, Chair of the LIBE Committee, concerning the Opinion of the European Parliament's Legal Service concerning Europol and refusal of US authorities to give the Ombudsman access to a document concerning the TFTP Agreement (pdf)

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