EU ethics body

Why is an ethics body needed?

Robust ethical and transparency standards are essential for good governance and contribute to preventing corruption and undue interference in the democratic process.

They also underpin the EU’s founding treaties, which define the powers, responsibilities and procedures of the EU institutions. Partly as a result of the different roles and mandates of the institutions, most of them have their own rules of procedure or codes of conduct, which has led to each institution having its own ethical framework.

The EU ethics body, which was set up on 15 May 2024, is an independent body that introduces:

• common ethical standards for the EU institutions
• a mechanism through which the institutions can coordinate and exchange views on ethical matters

This will help foster integrity and citizens’ trust in public institutions and democratic processes, and boost cooperation between the institutions.

Scope

The institutions will be subject to common standards in several instances, including:

• acceptance of gifts, awards, hospitality and travel offered by third parties
• conditionality and transparency measures, in particular for meetings with interest representatives
• declarations of interests and assets
• ancillary or external activities
• post-mandate activities of former members

Each EU institution is responsible for implementing these standards and for monitoring compliance and follow-up, including as regards possible harassment and sanction cases, should they involve breaches of the rules. It is also up to the institutions to make public how they will apply the standards.

The scope of the ethics body does not impact the powers of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) or the European Ombudsman.

Who is covered?

The ethics body is an independent body common to the  EU institutions and its members, namely the political appointees in the institutions.

Participating institutions

The participating institutions, also known as ‘the parties’, are:

• European Parliament
• Council of the EU
• European Commission
• Court of Justice of the European Union - as an observer
• European Central Bank
• European Court of Auditors
• European Economic and Social Committee
• European Committee of the Regions

On 7 December 2024, the President of the European Council, António Costa, announced that he will request the European Council  to participate in the body and to be represented therein by former president of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy.

On request, the European Investment Bank can also participate to the body, while other EU agencies can decide to apply the ethical standards of the body on a voluntary basis at a later stage.

• Invitation letter by President António Costa to the members of the European Council, 7 December 2024

Members of the parties

The members of the parties that are covered by the EU ethics body are the political appointees of the EU institutions. They are the:

• members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
• High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, including in his or her capacity as President of the Foreign Affairs Council
• members of the European Commission
• members of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank as well as the members of the Governing Council and of the Supervisory Board
• members of the European Court of Auditors
• members of the European Economic and Social Committee in relation to the exercise of their European Union mandate
• members or alternate members of the European Committee of the Regions, except in the exercise of their local or regional mandate

While holding the Council presidency, or during the six months before and after, member states can decide to make publicly available information on their national rules, standards or practices on ethical behaviour for the members of their governments which are relevant for the exercise of their role in the presidency of the Council.

Tasks

The ethics body will have three main tasks:

1. developing common minimum standards by consensus, applicable to all parties and their members
2. holding exchanges of views on the alignment of internal rules with common standards
3. promoting cooperation on issues related to the conduct of its members

If consulted, the independent experts assisting the ethics body can give confidential opinions on the compliance of declarations of interests with the common minimum standards.

Governance

The ethics body will be composed of members from the participating institutions: one designated representative and one alternate, for a maximum of five years. Each member will chair it on a rotational basis for a term of one year.

It will be assisted by five independent experts, as well as a joint secretariat made up of officials from each participating institution.

The composition of the body should ensure both gender balance and geographical diversity among its members.

Access to information

All information relating to the ethics body will be available on its website.

This includes:

• the composition of the ethics body
• meeting calendars and agendas
• developments of and updates to the common ethical standards
• all applicable rules of all participating institutions covered by the standards
• the annual reports of the ethics body
• self-assessments of the participating institutions