Emily O'Reilly

The European Commission president's 2023 holiday at the Cretan summer house of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has revealed a "structural shortcoming" in the bloc's ethics rules, the European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly said in a press release on Tuesday. 

The European Union's rights watchdog raised concern on Tuesday about the bloc's new 7.4 billion euro ($8.03 billion) agreement with Egypt that includes provisions to curb migration, saying it falls short on human rights safeguards.

The European Union's administrative watchdog called Wednesday for a change to Europe's search and rescue rules following an inquiry into last year's sinking of a rusty fishing boat, the Adriana, carrying hundreds of migrants while traveling from Libya to Italy.

European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly on Wednesday opened an own-initiative inquiry aimed at clarifying the role of Frontex, the European border control agency, in search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea following the drowning of hundreds of people in international waters off the coast of Greece on June 14. 

The European Union's official watchdog said Wednesday it has opened a probe in the role of the bloc's Frontex border agency in the shipwreck off Greece last month that is feared to have killed hundreds of people in the Mediterranean Sea.

Migrant crossings in unseaworthy boats organzied by human traffickers from Northern Africa have spiked this year, with massive losses of life.

The EU's ombudsman today criticized the European Commission for failing to release text messages between its president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Reuters reported.

The two exchanged text messages before concluding the deal for the vaccines against COVID-19 between the EC and the pharmaceutical giant.

Emily O'Reilly remains European Ombudsman for a new five-year term. This was decided by the European Parliament at its meeting today in Strasbourg.

On Wednesday, Emily O'Reilly (Ireland) was elected European Ombudsman for the 2019-2024 parliamentary term. She was backed by 320 MEPs in a secret plenary vote.

The European Parliament was unable to determine the next EU Ombudsman in today's first vote. The vote is scheduled to continue tomorrow with a second and third round. Only the two candidates who received the most votes will participate in the last round.

Bulgaria's national Ombudswoman Maya Manolova has sent a letter to the European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly requesting assistance in connection with the controversial legislative amendments to the Mobility Package 1, also known as the Macron plan, which are considered as detrimental to Bulgarian road hauliers, the press office of the Ombudsman said on 11th of January, reports BNT. 

European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly on Wednesday called for more assistance to Greece by other European Union member-states to deal with the refugee-migrant crisis.

During a visit to Athens, the European official acknowledged that there is still a solidarity gap within the EU.