European Economic and Social Committee approves agreement on creation of interinstitutional Ethics Body

The new interinstitutional Ethics Body will bring together eight EU institutions and is expected to strengthen integrity, transparency, and accountability in the European decision-making process.

At its plenary session on 25 April 2024, the European Economic and Social Committee approved the agreement on the creation of an interinstitutional body for ethical standards.

The agreement is a significant first step towards fostering a common culture of integrity and ethics.

The new EU body will develop, update, and interpret common minimum standards for ethical conduct, and publish reports on how these standards have been reflected in the internal rules of each participating EU institution and body.

Commenting on this key milestone, EESC President Oliver Röpke said: ‘With the European elections coming up in June, it is more important than ever that we strengthen people’s trust in our institutions. When I took office in April last year, I committed to boosting the transparency of the EESC’s work, including by supporting the EU ethics body. The EU is taking an important step towards a common culture of integrity and ethics and I am glad that the EESC is an integral part of this endeavour. At the EESC, we believe that all EU institutions must be uncompromising on questions of transparency, ethics, and conflicts of interest, which is why we have supported the creation of this new body since its inception.’

EESC Vice-President Laurențiu Plosceanu added: ‘Every time a crisis breaks that calls into question the ethics and integrity of European politicians, it becomes clear that rules on transparency and self-regulation at institutional level alone are not enough. I am therefore delighted that an EU ethics body will be set up to ensure the development of common standards against which the actions of all players in the European project will be measured. This is a decisive step that will give citizens and organised European civil society the assurances they need –and want – that exemplary standards of ethics are in place across the board. Our citizens demand nothing less.’

Apart from the EESC, the following seven EU institutions and bodies will be part of the new ethics body: the European Parliament, the Council of the EU, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank, the European Court of Auditors and the European Committee of the Regions.

Each participating institution will be represented by one senior member and the position of chair of the body will rotate every year between the institutions.

Five independent experts will support the work of the body by delivering opinions on request. Any party to the agreement will be able to consult them on individual standardised written declarations, including declarations of interest.

Next steps

The agreement needs to be approved by each signatory before it can be signed and come into force.

All of the institutions and bodies that are parties to the interinstitutional agreement are currently in the process of validating the text at their respective levels.

Background

On 7 July 2023, European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová launched the political negotiations aimed at the creation of an interinstitutional ethics body tasked with setting ethical standards to strengthen transparency and integrity, and invited all of the institutions and consultative bodies listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union to participate.

The negotiations on behalf of the EESC were led by Vice-President Laurențiu Plosceanu,who was assisted by a temporary ad hoc group consisting of three EESC members established by the EESC Bureau.