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The European ombudsman office has required the Commission of the European Union to provide detailed information on how it deals with business trip requests by senior staff members that are paid for by third parties.
Through an official letter sent to the President of the EU Commission, the EU ombudsman office asked the Commission to clarify the rules that it currently applies and to share how they make sure there is not any conflict of interest when trips get paid by other parties than EU, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Such a requirement from the EU ombudsman office follows news that some business trips that took place between 2015 and 2021 by the Director-General of the Commission’s transport department, Henrik Hololei, had been paid for by the government of Qatar and other organisations close to the government.
Back at that time, Hololei’s department was involved in negotiating an air transport agreement between the EU and Qatar, and for this reason, the European ombudsman demanded that the Commission becomes more transparent and updates its rules.
In order to make sure that there is full transparency when it comes to senior staff members’ business trips, the European ombudsman office asked the Commission to detail all travel costs paid by third parties since 2021.
It further required the Commission to clarify how it ensures that all Directors-General make public information on meetings they have with interest representatives.
“Looking at the wider issue of enforcing rules related to lobbying transparency, the Ombudsman asked the Commission how it ensures that its Directors-General makes public information on all meetings they have with interest representatives,” the statement of the European ombudsman reads.
Commenting on the matter as well as on the involvement of Hololei in negotiations between the EU and Qatar, Ombudsman Emilly O’Reilly said that the paying of expenses by the Qatari government and organisations close to its give rise to legitimate questions around the influence on the decision.
On the other hand, the EU Commission spokesperson, Eric Mamer, said that they would respond to the letter and give information on the matter.
Currently, the Commission is revising its rules for trips to non-EU countries paid for by third parties. They plan to limit such activities in the future and permit only certain organisations to carry out payments for EU senior staff members.
Euronews notes that the attention to such a matter comes amid another cash-for-favour scheme, including EU Parliament’s current and former staff and to which Qatar, together with Morocco, have been linked.
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