Teresa Anjinho, a human rights lawyer who was once Portugal’s Deputy Ombudsman, has been backed by MPs to succeed Ireland’s Emily O’Reilly as she investigates maladministration in the EU bureaucracy.
The Portuguese Teresa Anjinho was elected, this Tuesday, the Ombudsman of the EU, after winning the competition of five other competitors to get the support of the members of the European Parliament (EP).
She will succeed Emily O’Reilly, an Irish woman who was responsible for investigating cases of maladministration in EU bodies such as the European Commission for more than ten years.
In a hearing with MEPs on December 3, Anjinho promised to “ensure that our EU administration adheres to the highest standards of transparency and ethics and protects the rights of European citizens.”
The principles of “fairness, integrity and trust (…) are essential to strengthen the link between institutions and their citizens”, he said.
In the second and final round of voting, on Tuesday, Anjinho received a clear majority of 344 MEPs, which avoided the need for a third round with the runner-up.
In second place was Dutch Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen, followed by Estonian Supreme Court judge Julia Laffranque.
The vote is secret, but Anjinho would have received the support of the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest group in the European Parliament, with which she was previously linked as a national representative and, for a short time, in Parliament of Europe. 2015, as Secretary of State for Law and Justice.
But she also tried to assure lawmakers of her “independence and impartiality”, citing her academic background and as Portugal’s deputy ombudsman. Perhaps he knew that strong political connections could be a risk for a supposedly non-political role, where he might have to investigate party colleagues such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
His initial appointment, in September, had the support of all but one of Portugal’s 21 MPs, suggesting he was able to reach out to everyone.
The Ombudsman’s work basically involves responding to complaints filed by Europeans who have faced the EU bureaucracy or from journalists, activists or non-governmental organizations who want more transparency from European institutions.
O’Reilly, a former journalist who was previously Ireland’s Ombudsman, has not been afraid of court controversy since taking office in 2013, an approach that is popular in the European Parliament.
His high-profile cases include intervening in alleged vaccine contract talks between the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the director of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, and the investigation into the appointment of the German Martin Selmayr as Secretary General of the Commission. , the highest post in the EU executive, from which he resigned.
But O’Reilly’s attention wasn’t just focused on high politics, after saying her best case scenario would be to get a parliamentary pass for a staff child, allowing her to continue working as an interpreter while breastfeeding.
Despite her training as a lawyer, Anjinho is committed to keeping her focus on the human side, rather than the legal side, of her work.
“Every complaint is an act of trust… sometimes people come to us without even having an idea of what the law says, just with a feeling of injustice,” he previously told Euronews, adding: “Not everything is in the story, the law is just, and not everything that is just is in the law.”