Emily O'Reilly EU:s nya ombudsman

Idag röstade parlamentet för den irländska kandidaten Emily O'Reilly till posten som EU:s nya ombudsman. Jag har stöttat O'Reilly från början på grund av hennes kompetens och erfarenhet som ombudsman på Irland. Dessutom är det viktigt att en kvinna nu intar denna viktiga post. Det är ett nödvändigt steg för att förbättra jämställdhetssituationen bland ledande positioner i EU:s institutioner.

O'Reilly har varit ombudsman på Irland sedan 2003. Innan det arbetade hon som prisad journalist och författare efter studier vid Trinity College och Harvard.

En viktig aspekt i utnämnandet av en ny europeisk ombudsman har varit att välja en kandidat utan politisk bakgrund. Ombudsmannens uppgift som granskare av politiker och institutioner å befolkningens vägnar kräver absolut neutralitet. Detta är viktigt för ombudsmannens legitimitet och för förtroendet från medborgarna.

Ett flertal av ledamöterna i parlamentet har ställt upp som kandidater till posten som ombudsman trots sin politiska uppdrag. Detta är jag, och många med mig, kritisk till.

I ett brev till alla 754 ledamöter i parlamentet framhåller jag tillsammans med en grupp kollegor vikten av ombudsmannens politiska neutralitet. Brevet kan ni läsa nedan.


Dear Colleagues,

The election of the new European Ombudsman is important. The Ombudsman plays a central role in ensuring the trust of the citizens in the EU institutions, including the European Parliament. It would be a very damaging move if we decided to elect someone from our own ranks instead of a person who fully lives up to the demand for independence, as is clearly stated in “The decision of the European Parliament on the regulation and the general conditions governing the performance of the European Ombudsman’s duties”.

We should continue the “Nordic tradition” of the Ombudsman, which has nothing to do with nationality. Both the current and the former Ombudsman have been taking this approach. Jacob Söderman was the Finnish national Ombudsman for many years before becoming our first European Ombudsman. And our current Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, also served as the national Ombudsman of Greece before acceding to European Office. Both are indisputably “Nordic” in their approach.

It is also important that the candidates have the right professional background and through national or regional Ombudsman work has shown their skills and their ability to win and maintain the trust of the citizens. Impartiality and independence is crucial and they should de facto be perceived as such. This is something you per definition cannot be if you come straight from a political group in a Parliament which is responsible for electing the candidate through voting.

It simply cannot be enough to just declare ones independence or showing fine qualifications. In this case independence is an objective requirement; the candidate must appear independent - and equally important – he or she must be perceived as such!

We have three independent candidates; two of them even have extensive and well reputed experience as national Ombudsmen. We in the parliament have good options to fulfil the right of the European citizens to have a competent and independent Ombudsman. If we chose one among our own ranks there is an imminent risk that the Ombudsman office will become part of the political distribution of positions in the EU. In doing that we would not only let the citizens down, but also damage the reputation of the European Parliament. This would be a terrible failure on our part – especially now, in the “European year of the citizens”.