We host the EU Ombudswoman, Portuguese politician Teresa Anjinho, who says she aims to make her office the "reference point for integrity issues". The office itself is called the EU Ombudsman, even though it has now been led by two women. It was established in the early 1990s as an independent institution that investigates complaints about poor administration by EU institutions and bodies. We discuss the priorities of her five-year mandate, which began this February, and the transparency issues surrounding scandals such as "Pfizergate", "Qatargate" and "Huaweigate".

We ask Anjinho about the increase in complaints to the Ombudsman where public access to documents has been denied. "So let's look at the bright side first," she answers. "If we have a rise in complaints, this is positive because in a way people are aware of the existence of the office and are also aware of their rights. Now the not-so-bright side is that, well, if they are complaining, it's because what we are promising in terms of citizens’ participation is not being complied with. It's the gap between expectations and reality. And you rightly pointed out a very important issue of transparency. We did have a rise of 42.2 percent in complaints last year, related mainly to access to documents. I think we do have room for improvement. It's clear that we need a framework that is more compliant with the needs of citizens, because access to documents goes hand in hand with a stronger democracy."

We talk about the undisclosed text messages between EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anjinho says that she raised "Pfizergate" during a meeting with von der Leyen in June. "It was important for me to pass the message that this is a very important issue for my office," Anjinho states. "The ruling of the (EU General) Court was very clear in terms of good administration. And it implicitly recognised that text messages are documents. The court was also clear that the Commission should have done more in saying if it has the messages or not, if the messages were deleted automatically, or if it changed the mobile. So these questions will have to be addressed by the Commission, and hopefully they are committed to addressing them and being compliant with the court cases."

Anjinho has spoken about the importance of responsible lobbying, in the light of recurring scandals such as "Qatargate" and "Huaweigate". "We do have an integrity framework, and many institutions are doing their best to strengthen this integrity framework," she says. "However, when we have scandals like "Qatargate" and "Huaweigate" – that is actually pending a case in the Belgian courts – they damage the trust in and the reputation of the European Union as a whole, and you forget about all the efforts that the institutions are making."

We point out that the EU Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee blocked the independent EU ethics body mooted after "Qatargate", in a recent committee vote. "I believe [the ethics body] is a good idea because it establishes a body that is competent to have common standards between all institutions, including the Council," Anjinho responds. "However, what the citizen should also recognise is that this independent ethics body [would not] have the competence to receive complaints. But there are important institutions that do have this competence, namely the European Ombudsman. And I actually aim to guarantee that my office is recognised as a reference institution for integrity issues."

Programme prepared by Luke Brown, Perrine Desplats and Isabelle Romero

Access to documents is crucial for transparency and a strong democracy: EU Ombudswoman

Talking Europe