Visit of the European Ombudsman to the High Authority

On September 16, 2021 the President of the High Authority, Didier Migaud, received the European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly. She was accompanied by Rosita Hickey, director of investigations, and Silvia Bartolucci, political assistant. Lisa Gamgani, secretary general of the High Authority, Marie Lintzer, head of international partnerships and Tim Caron, international affairs officer, took part in the meeting.

The President of the High Authority and the European Ombudsman discussed the control of the revolving doors between the public and private sector of French and European public officials and servants.

The Ombudsman referred to her ongoing systemic investigation into the retraining of European Commission officials to the private sector. The obligations of referral to the High Authority, the types of constraining opinions issued when controlling revolving doors projects, the monitoring of reservations and cooling-off periods were discussed.

The Ombudsman asked questions about the High Authority’s control plan, the number of controls carried out in 2020, its relations with the media and its membership in peer networks.

Finally, the participants discussed the plan to create a European independent interinstitutional ethics body and avenues of collaboration for the coming months.