Ex-EU Ombudsman Slams Commission's 'Elitist' Lack of Transparency

BRUSSELS — The EU’s former ombudsman slammed the “elitist” lack of transparency at the European Commission, arguing it was a threat to democracy.

You can’t have people in the buildings around here making decisions, making regulations and keeping all the information on which they’re basing their decision-making to themselves,” she said in response to a question from POLITICO. “That is elitist and that is anti-democratic.”

The ombudsman’s role within the EU is to uphold transparency norms at the EU institutions. But its judgments are non-binding and depend on those same institutions to be implemented.

O’Reilly, who hails from Ireland and was the EU’s first female ombudsman, said she was often “frustrated” that the Commission chose to ignore her office’s recommendations and acted “time and time again” as if “the people couldn’t be trusted with certain information.”

“If you had issues, such as the whole thing around Covid-19 and the vaccine contracts … even though the recommendations that I made were legally sound, valid … they were still not acted on,” she said.

NGOs, the press and even some ex-commissioners have long criticized the Commission for a culture of secrecy under its two-term president, Ursula von der Leyen, who has been accused of acting unilaterally.

O’Reilly was replaced in 2025 at the end of her mandate by Teresa Anjinho, Portugal’s former justice minister.

The Commission did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.