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EU Confidential

Farewell to the EU’s sharpest in-house critic

EU Confidential

POLITICO

Politics, News Commentary, News

4.4175 Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2024

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Politics are driving a growing culture of secrecy at the European Commission, warns European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly in this week’s episode of EU Confidential. In an exclusive exit interview with host Sarah Wheaton, O’Reilly shares her frustrations over obtaining documents and holding European Union institutions to account. From Pfizergate to investigations into deadly migrant shipwrecks, the former journalist reflects on how her faith in the EU’s ideals has fueled her determination to ensure its institutions live up to them. Her advice to her successor? Schmooze more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:27.8

forward slash express. There's a new sheriff in town. Well, a new European Ombudsman.

0:39.0

That's like the Brussels bureaucracy version of a sheriff?

0:42.9

Her name is Teresa Anjino.

0:45.6

She's a former politician and former deputy national ombudsman of Portugal.

0:50.8

Anjino will start her tenure in February, and one thing's for sure.

0:55.2

She's filling the shoes of someone with a formidable and sometimes controversial reputation.

1:01.1

We got complaints in relation to that. This was not me waking up on warning and thinking,

1:05.9

how am I going to torture the EPP today, you know?

1:08.4

For over a decade, Emily O'Reilly held the post, transforming it from a quiet oversight office

1:14.5

into a headline-making champion for transparency.

1:17.8

It would never occur to me.

1:19.3

It would never occur to me not to do that.

1:22.0

Otherwise, what's the point?

1:23.7

As the Yarp's first woman in the role, O'Reilly didn't shy away from taking on powerful figures.

1:29.2

From former Commission President José Manuel Barroso to the faceless bureaucrats who secretly pull the strings.

...

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