My guest is Emily O'Reilly. Emily O'Reilly is the European Ombudsman, a post she has occupied for the past 10 years.

Before that, she was for 10 years the Ombudsman of Ireland as well. So she has at least 20 years experience in this job.

Welcome to the podcast, Emily.

Thank you very much, Paul, and thank you for inviting me.

Well, inviting you back, because it's hard to believe, but it's over six years since we last

had a podcast chat together. So maybe it's high time we carried on the conversation. So very much

welcome back. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed. Right. If you don't, just to be clear,

in case I get any pushback, it is correct to refer to you as a European ombudsman and not anything else. Is that correct? You will get pushback, Paul. I can guarantee you that. Yeah, the trouble legally, you know, in the treaties, it's the ombudsman in English. And in French, it's more gendered, mediator de Pueblo. It's a Swedish term. I answer to ombudsman, ombudswoman.

The Americans call us ombuds, which I absolutely hate.

So whatever. Yes, it's the opposite of the office, but referred to me as whatever way you will.

Well, now they'll be clear that up. Let's get cracking.

I'd like, first of all, for you to explain very briefly what your job entails,

the limits of your powers and where your powers stop and where they do not go any further.

So let's start with that, please, very briefly.

Okay, I suppose the best way is explaining it is I am the watchdog of the

European administration. So just as virtually every member state in the European Union has an

omensman-type office that takes complaints against their administration. So too does the European

administration have an ombudsman that takes complaints in relation to their doings or failings or whatever.

So anybody, citizens, media, even parliamentarians, civil society, businesses, they can approach us

if they feel they haven't been traded fairly by the European administration.

Most typically it's the commission because it is obviously the big beast in the jungle.

But of course, we get a lot of complaints in relation to the regulatory agencies, but also the European Central Bank, the European Investment Bank. So what we basically do, we look at what

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