International newsletter of the HATVP – November-December 2024
November was marked by the holding of the 98th plenary meeting of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) during which several evaluation and compliance reports within the framework of the evaluation and compliance cycles were adopted. David Meyer was elected as the new President of GRECO and will take office as of 1 January 2025.
In December, the 27 European Commissioners took office for a five-year term and the new European Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho was elected on 17 December 2024 by the Members of the European Parliament.
EUROPEAN UNION (EU)
On 29 November 2024, the European Commission published the results of the Eurobarometer highlighting a record level of trust in the European Union with 51% of Europeans stating that they trust the European Commission. This positive trend is also reflected in most enlargement countries. The survey also shows that Europeans have a more optimistic view of the future and that 69% of them consider that the European Union represents an area of stability in a world in crisis. (European Commission, 29 November 2024)
The 27 European Commissioners took office on 1 December 2024 for a five-year term. Twelve are officially affiliated with the conservative families of the European People’s Party (EPP), five of them are members of liberal parties, linked to Renew Europe, while four are affiliated with the Party of European Socialists (PES). One Commissioner is part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and five are classified as independents. The Slovak Maroš Šefčovič is in charge of interinstitutional relations and transparency and the Irish Michael McGrath is in charge of Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. (European Commission 1 December 2024, All Europe 1 December 2024)
In two decisions issued on 4 December 2024, the European Commission extended the transparency obligations between Members of the Commission and lobbyists. The obligation to make public information on all meetings with lobbyists previously only applied to Commissioners, members of their cabinet and General Directors. This obligation now extends to heads of unit and minutes must be drawn up and published after each meeting with a lobbyist. (EU Decision 2024/3081, 4 December 2024, EU Decision 2024/3082, 4 December 2024)
The European Commission adopted a decision on 16 December 2024 finding that the legislative amendments submitted by Hungary on 2 December 2024 concerning public interest trusts and the entities they hold are not sufficient to address the risks of conflicts of interest. On 15 December 2022, the Council adopted, on a Commission proposal, an implementing decision establishing measures to protect the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary. These breaches concerned public procurement, prosecutions, conflicts of interest, the fight against corruption and public interest trusts. (European Commission, 16 December 2024)
On 27 November 2024, the European Parliament and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) endorsed a working arrangement to facilitate and clarify procedures and exchange information. The agreement provides that the EPPO must regularly inform Parliament about ongoing and closed investigations to enable it to take appropriate measures and to intervene as a civil party for the administrative recovery of sums due to the Union budget. (European Parliament, 27 November 2024)
The European Ombudsman has found maladministration in how the European Commission handled an access to documents request concerning the preparation of a meeting between its President, the Italian and Dutch Prime Ministers and the President of Tunisia. In particular, she criticises the Commission for failing to identify documents covering exchanges with Member States as well as internal exchanges ahead of the meeting. (European Ombudsman, 25 November 2024)
The European Ombudsman issued a decision on 9 December 2024 on how the European Commission ensures that there are no conflicts of interest with external experts assisting it in the allocation of funds under the European Defence Fund (EDF). The investigation showed that there is no systematic review of the financial interests of experts. To remedy this situation, the Ombudsman suggested that the Commission ask candidates to complete a detailed declaration of interests. In cases where experts declared potential conflicts of interest, the Ombudsman found that these experts had been disqualified from the relevant EDF proposals. The Ombudsman encourages the Commission to proactively seek additional information that may indicate potential conflicts of interest, rather than relying solely on the information submitted by the experts. (European Ombudsman, 9 December 2024)
Teresa Anjinho was elected European Ombudsman with the support of 344 MEPs at the plenary session of 17 December 2024 in the European Parliament. She is a member of the Supervisory Committee of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and a former Deputy Ombudsman of Portugal. She has also served as Secretary of State for Justice and a Member of Parliament in Portugal. The new Ombudsman will take office for a five-year term after the swearing-in ceremony on 27 February 2025 before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The outgoing European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, from Ireland, first took up her post in July 2013 and had her mandate renewed in December 2019. (European Ombudsman, 17 December 2024)
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS
GRECO held its 98th plenary meeting in Strasbourg, from 18 to 22 November 2024. At this plenary meeting, GRECO examined and adopted the evaluation reports on San Marino and Liechtenstein assessing measures to prevent corruption and promote integrity in the top executive functions of their central governments and in their national police forces, as well as compliance reports under this evaluation cycle on Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria. The next plenary meeting will take place from 17 to 19 March 2025. (Council of Europe, 22 November 2024)
David Meyer, currently Head of International Engagement, Rule of Law and Overseas Territories at the UK Ministry of Justice, was elected as the new President of GRECO. He succeeds Mr Marin Mrčela, Judge of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, and will take office on 1 January 2025. (Council of Europe, 27 November 2024)
GRECO has published a follow-up report assessing Andorra’s progress in implementing the 13 recommendations contained in an evaluation report on the prevention of corruption of parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors adopted in 2017. GRECO concludes that Andorra has implemented 9 of the 13 recommendations satisfactorily and has partly implemented three. One recommendation concerning the composition of the High Council of the Judiciary has not yet been implemented. Regarding parliamentarians, GRECO welcomes the adoption of a guide on the application of the Code of Conduct. Another significant step forward is the appointment of external advisers to Parliament to give parliamentarians confidential advice on ethics and integrity issues. GRECO regrets that the composition of the High Council of Magistracy fails to afford appropriate representation of members of the judiciary elected by their peers. (Council of Europe, 4 December 2024)
On 11 December 2024, GRECO published a compliance report for Armenia in the context of the recommendations made in 2015 concerning the prevention of corruption among members of parliament and the judiciary. GRECO recalls that, out of the 18 recommendations made, 12 have been implemented satisfactorily and 6 remain partly implemented. Measures have been taken to prevent conflicts of interest of members of parliament (provisions on the transfer of shares held by members of parliament in commercial organisations to a trust fund) and to ensure greater oversight in this risky area. A code of conduct has yet to be adopted and combined with effective monitoring, advisory and awareness-raising measures. This report concludes the compliance procedure with respect to Armenia in the framework of this 4th evaluation round. (Council of Europe, 11 December 2024)
NETWORKS
The 23rd annual conference of the European Partners Against Corruption Network (EPAC) was held in Bucharest on 26-27 November 2024. The conference brought together over 200 participants from nearly 100 institutions representing over 30 countries and jurisdictions. The Bucharest Declaration was adopted at the meeting. (EPAC, 26-27 November 2024)
EUROPE
The Romanian Constitutional Court has annulled the first round of the presidential elections. This decision was taken after the declassification of national intelligence documents reporting a major operation on TikTok in favor of the pro-Russian candidate, Calin Georgescu. The candidate came out on top in the first round with 23% of the vote ahead of Elena Lasconi, leader of the centrists (19%). (Le Monde, 6 December 2024)