Members of the European Parliament have elected Teresa Anjinho, Portugal’s former deputy ombudsman and advisor to the EU’s anti-fraud office OLAF, as the new European Ombudsman, starting next February.
Unlike most other candidates, however, she also has a political background. Before becoming deputy ombudsman in 2017, she served as an MP and justice minister in the center-right CDS party (EPP). She insists she would leave partisanship out of her strictly apolitical job, but that is perhaps not what the EPP truly expects her to do after securing her election.
Anjinho takes over from Emily O’Reilly, a former journalist and Irish ombudsman, who served as the EU’s primary watchdog for over a decade. O’Reilly was known for not shying away from frequently criticizing even the highest circles of EU leadership—including repeatedly ruling “maladministration” (EU-speak for ‘guilty’) in von der Leyen’s Pfizergate case—although with minimal consequences.
The question is whether Anjinho would be able to act similarly tough towards the EPP-dominated EU establishment after not only hailing from their ranks but also being elected largely due to the EPP’s support.
Although the vote in the Parliament was done through a secret ballot, it’s widely understood that over half of Anjinho’s 344 votes came from the EPP, with the rest likely from the other two groups of the ruling ‘Ursula coalition,’ the socialist S&D and the liberal Renew.
Unlike Anjinho, the two runners-up—the Dutch ombudsman Reinier van Zupten and Estonian supreme court judge Julia Laffranque—spent their entire careers in the judiciary, without direct party affiliation. They both wanted to expand the EU ombudsman’s role and have a bigger impact by exposing the EU institutions’ systemic shortcomings, especially when it comes to transparency.
In contrast, during her parliamentary hearing earlier this month, Anjinho said she would focus on building better communication with EU citizens who often do not even know the office of the ombudsman exists. But perhaps the solution is not more flashy PR but actually exposing the Commission’s scandals and finding ways to hold it accountable—despite the fact that the ombudsman’s rulings are non-binding and are usually just ignored by the EU executive.
Nonetheless, Anjinho pledged to “ensure that our EU administration adheres to the highest standards of transparency, ethics and upholds the rights of European citizens.” Perhaps foreseeing the criticism of her EPP affiliation, she also stressed her “independence and impartiality.” This might be sincere, given that her nomination was backed by all but one of Portugal’s 21 MEPs, which at least shows that she is a widely accepted figure back home, across political lines.
Still, there is a reason why the EPP and its allies picked her, a former politician, and not one of the four judges without party links. It would be surprising to see her be as tough as O’Reilly was on von der Leyen’s Pfizergate and other key issues, but she is always welcome to prove us wrong.
