Brussels – The European institutions’ new watchdog will be Portugal’s Teresa Anjinho, elected by the EU Parliament today (Dec. 17) as European Ombudsman. The independent human rights expert and member of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) will pick up the baton from Ireland’s Emily O’Reilly, who has held the role for two consecutive terms.
There was nothing to do for the two Italians in the running, Emilio De Capitani and Marino Fardelli, who garnered just six and 14 votes, respectively—last among the six candidates—in the secret ballot in which Anjinho triumphed. In the second round of voting, Portugal’s Anjinho collected the support of 344 MEPs, followed by the Dutch Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen, who put together 177 preferences, Estonia’s former Supreme Court Justice Julia Laffranque with 47 votes in favour, and Austrian academic, Claudia Mahler, who stopped at 15 votes.
Teresa Anjinho is an independent human rights expert and academic researcher, member of the Supervisory Committee of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), and previously deputy ombudswoman of Portugal and deputy attorney general for Justice in Lisbon. During a public hearing in the Petitions Committee (PETS) of the EU Parliament last Dec. 3, 2024, Anjinho pledged to build trust between the EU and its citizens and uphold the highest standards of integrity, accountability and responsiveness.” Today´s world doesn´t understand indecision by unnecessary formalities or bureaucracies; neither accepts unjustified delays. We must always respect due process rules and essential formal proceedings, but we also must deliver. It is a matter of trust in the
institution, but— in the end—in the European Union as whole,” she had said to MEPs.
The new EU Ombudswoman has indicated three main areas of focus on which she will concentrate over the next five years: Strengthening individual complaints, ensuring “efficient complaint handling,” reaching out to “vulnerable and underrepresented groups,” and improving information accessibility, implementing a strategy for own-initiative investigations, not to be overlooked as a “proactive mechanism for identifying systemic issues within the EU institutions,” and “promoting intelligent partnerships” with national Ombudsman offices, academic institutions, civil society, and other stakeholders.
Anjinho will take office after a swearing-in ceremony on Feb. 27 at the EU Court of Justice for a five-year term. Her predecessor, Emily O’Reilly, “warmly congratulated” and left the former Lisbon deputy prosecutor with both a warning and a wish: “This Office is critical to ensuring that the administration of the EU remains transparent and accountable to citizens, and I wish her every success in the role,” she said.
Instituted in 1995, the Office of the European Ombudsman investigates cases of maladministration within EU institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies, acting on its own initiative or responding to complaints from European citizens.
