COR 2022 00373 09 00 NB TRA EN.pdf

Brussels, 21 April 2022

211th MEETING OF THE BUREAU OF THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE
REGIONS

- 26 APRIL 2022 -

ITEM 6 D

ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW EU ETHICS BODY

Submitted by the secretary-general

FOR DECISION

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EN

SUMMARY



Bureau meeting:  211
Date:  26/04/2022


Item 6 b

Establishment of a new EU ethics body

Type:

☐  Document for information / debate
☒  Document for decision
☐  Recommendation to the Assembly

Short description:

In  September  2021,  the  European  Parliament  adopted  a  resolution  on  the  establishment  of  an
independent  EU  ethics  body  through  the  conclusion  of  an  interinstitutional  agreement  with  the
Commission,  while  other  institutions  would  have  the  possibility  to  participate  in  it  after  it  was
concluded.  The  Commission  welcomes  the  establishment  of  such  body  but  suggests  concluding  an
interinstitutional instrument among all interested institutions. The Commission also considers that the
remit of such body should be more limited than what is outlined in the Parliament's resolution. On 18
March 2022, the Commission President asked the CoR President to indicate by the end of April what
the  CoR's  views  would  be  on  taking  part  in  these  interinstitutional  discussions.  Subject  to  the
agreement of  the CFAA  on  the basis of  the  written procedure, it  is hereby  proposed  that  the Bureau
authorises  the  President  to  reply  to  the  Commission  that  the  CoR  wishes  to  take  part  in  these
interinstitutional discussions.

The Bureau is invited to:

  Take  a  decision  on  the  CoR  taking  part  in  the  interinstitutional  discussions  in  view  of  the
establishment of a new EU ethics body.

Remarks:

The  decision  taken  by  the  CFAA  through  the  written  procedure  will  be  announced  at  the
Bureau meeting.

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1.
Parliament's resolution

On  16  September  2021,  the  European  Parliament  adopted  (with  224  abstentions)  a  resolution  on
strengthening transparency and integrity in the EU institutions by setting up an independent EU ethics
body1.  In  this  resolution,  the  Parliament  proposes  the  conclusion  of  an  interinstitutional  agreement
with  the  Commission  that  would  set  up  an  independent  EU  ethics  body  for  both  Parliament  and  the
Commission,  which  would  be  open  to  the  participation  of  all  EU  institutions,  bodies,  offices  and
agencies.

The main features of this new ethics body would be as follows:

  It  would  consist  of  nine  independent  members, namely  three selected  by  the  Commission,
three  elected  by  Parliament  and  three  assigned  de  jure  from  among  former  judges  of  the
Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors and former European Ombudsmen.
  The new body would deal with ethical rules with regard to Commissioners, MEPs and staff
of  the  Commission  and  Parliament,  as  well  as  with  regard  to  members  and  staff  of  the
participating institutions.
  All  participating  institutions  would  give  the  new  ethics  body  a  preventive  role  through
awareness-raising  and  ethical  guidance,  as  well  as  a  compliance  monitoring  and  advisory
role with the power to issue recommendations on ethics, including on conflicts of interest.
  The  new  body  would  have  a  number  of  powers,  including:  checking  the  veracity  of  the
declarations of financial interests submitted by members of the participating institutions (and
managing  a  database  containing  all  the  declarations);  opening  investigations  on  its  own
initiative and conducting on-the-spot and records-based investigations based on information
it  has  collected  or  received  from  third  parties,  e.g.  journalists,  the  media,  NGOs,
whistleblowers,  civil  society  or  the  European  Ombudsman;  protecting  whistleblowers;  and
making reasoned recommendations for sanctions and transmitting all relevant information on
the case to the competent authority.

2.
Commission's reaction

On  18  February  2022,  the  Commission  replied  to  Parliament's  resolution2.  Although  the  tone  of  the
Commission's reaction is conciliatory and diplomatic, its content is in fact quite critical of Parliament's
resolution:

  The  resolution  would  affect  the  institutional  balance  between  EU  institutions  and  the
institutional  autonomy  and  the  particularities  of  each  institution.  Furthermore,  the
investigative  powers  of  the  new  body  would  impinge  on  the  competences  of  OLAF,  the
European Public Prosecutor and the European Ombudsman.

1
The resolution is available at https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0396_EN.pdf.
2
The response is available at https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/spdoc.do?i=56974&j=0&l=en.
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  The  Commission  supports  the  creation  of  an  independent  ethics  body  common  to  all  EU
institutions, but only with an advisory role3 and applying the existing rules of each institution
to  its  respective  members,  not  the  staff.  Unlike  Parliament,  the  Commission  opposes
entrusting  this  body  with  decision-making  powers  and  establishing  a  common  ethical
framework.
  The Commission considers that the legal basis proposed by Parliament, namely Article 295
TFEU,  is  inappropriate,  as  an  interinstitutional  agreement  under  this  provision  can  only  be
concluded  between  Parliament,  the  Council  and  the  Commission.  Instead,  the  Commission
suggests concluding a sui generis interinstitutional instrument that is open to all institutions,
bodies  and  agencies.  To  this  end,  the  Commission  will  make  a  proposal  when  there  is  an
agreement among all institutions on the principle pf creating an EU ethics body.

On  18  March  2022,  the  Commission  President  asked  the  CoR  President  to  indicate,  by  the  end  of
April,  what  the  CoR's  views  would  be  on  taking  part  in  the  abovementioned  interinstitutional
discussions.

3.
Possible implications for the CoR

The  establishment  of  a  new  EU  ethics  body  as  proposed  by  Parliament  would  have  substantial
implications  for  the  CoR  and  would  certainly  affect  its  autonomy.  It  is  almost  certain  that  the  CoR
would be urged  to  become  a participating  institution  after  an agreement  between Parliament  and the
Commission had been concluded, meaning that the CoR would not have the opportunity to discuss its
content.  Furthermore,  the  "one-size-fits-al"  approach  advocated  by  Parliament  could  create
disproportionate constraints for CoR members, whose situation is not comparable to that of MEPs and
Commissioners. It is also unclear how this new body would fit into the enforcement  mechanism laid
down in the CoR Code of Conduct.

Having  thoroughly  analysed  this  file,  the  CoR  Secretariat-General  (including  the  secretariats  of  the
political groups) broadly agrees with the Commission's assessment of Parliament's resolution. In fact,
the Commission puts forward a more pragmatic proposal: (i) the establishment of the new ethics body
by means of a sui generis interinstitutional instrument open to all institutions would mean that the CoR
would  at  least  have  a  chance  to  shape  its  content;  (ii)  applying  the  existing  rules  of  each  institution
would be more respectful of the particularities of each one of them; (iii) giving the new ethics body an
advisory  role  would  imply  that  the  final  decision  in  each  individual  case  would  still  lie  with  the
institution of the member concerned; and (iv) dealing only with members of the institutions would be
far more realistic than also overseeing 60 000 staff members.

Furthermore, the CoR Resolution of 1 December 2021 on the 2022 Work Programme of the European
Commission and the CoR political priorities for 2022 underlines that the CoR expects to be involved
in the establishment of a new interinstitutional EU ethics body.


3
Within  the  Commission,  this  advisory  role  is  currently  carried  out  by  an  Independent  Ethical  Committee.  On  this  point,  the
Commission's  response  states  the  following:  "If  the  institutions  agree  on  the  creation  of  an  EU  ethics  body  common  to  all
institutions and if the tasks and functioning of this future body are similar to those of the Commission's current Independent Ethical
Committee, then the Commission is ready to consider ending the operation of its own Committee and entrusting its tasks to the new
body if the other institutions are ready to do the same". Within the CoR, a similar advisory role is carried out by the Advisory Board
on Harassment under Article 9 of the Code of Conduct – although, as its name suggests, only for harassment-related issues.
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In  view  of  the  above,  it  is  hereby  proposed  that  the  Bureau  authorises  the  President  to  inform  the
Commission  that  the  CoR  wishes  to  take  part  in  the  interinstitutional  discussions  with  a  view  to  the
establishment  of  a  new  EU  ethics  body.  Depending  on  the  outcome  of  these  discussions,  the  CoR
would still have to take a decision on whether or not to join the interinstitutional agreement. Given the
time constraints, the CFAA was asked to take the decision on this issue by written procedure pursuant
to  Rule  40(5)  of  the  Rules  of  Procedure,  the  outcome  of  which  will  be  announced  at  the  Bureau
meeting.
_____________

PROPOSAL

The Bureau is invited to authorise the President to inform the Commission that the CoR wishes
to  take  part  in  the  interinstitutional  discussions  with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a  new  EU
ethics body.
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