2023 discharge: General budget of the EU - European Ombudsman

Tabled by Cristian Terheş

Added: 47 a. Expresses deep concern that, in 2021, following a request for public access to text messages between the Commission's President and the CEO of a pharmaceutical company regarding the Commission’s purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, the Commission refused to acknowledge that such text messages fall under the definition of a ‘document’ as laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001; recalls that the registration of a document is a consequence of its existence, not a prerequisite for it; acknowledges the Ombudsman’s finding of maladministration by the Commission in this case and expresses concern that, to date, the Commission has not acted on the Ombudsman’s recommendation to conduct an additional search for relevant text messages; urges the Commission to publish the text messages without delay; expresses serious concern about the growing disconnect between citizens and EU institutions, which is being exacerbated by this and other instances of maladministration by the Commission; stresses that the call for the Commission to be transparent and to publish the text messages, which has been blatantly ignored to date, was also made in the Parliament’s annual report on public access to documents for the years 2019-2021, Parliament's resolution of 21 October 2021 on EU transparency in the development, purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, Parliament's annual report on the activities of the Ombudsman in 2022, as well as in the discharge reports for the Ombudsman and the Commission from previous years;

Wording as published by the EP, in English. PE772.544