The European Ombudsman – who has powers to conduct enquiries in case of poor administration in the action of the institutions and organs of the EU – has issued a press release, emphasizing the need for transparency in the fields of EU subsidies and so-called lobbies (or interest groups). The Greek Nikiforos Diamandouros – European Ombudsman for six years – congratulates the “efforts made by the Commission to make more transparent the data relating to the beneficiaries of EU funds”, and “supports the proposal of the Green Paper on the European initiative in the field of transparency that aims to introduce a legal obligation for member states to publish the names of the recipients of EU funds”. As for the activities of lobbies – and in view of the EU Treaty that does not assign the exercise of control over the activities of private individuals to the “normal role” of the Ombudsman – Diamandouros says he is favourable to a revision of EU legislation on access to documents, which he considers a “fundamental test to understand how far the Commission takes seriously the question”.
