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Politico (20 December 2024)

By Sarah Wheaton and Seb Starcevic

The EU ombudsman described a powerful unelected and untransparent culture at the top of the European Commission, laying the blame squarely at the feet of its president, Ursula von der Leyen.  

Emily O’Reilly, who’s served as the EU’s accountability and transparency watchdog for more than a decade, told POLITICO’s EU Confidential podcastthat the Commission’s opacity has got worse over time.

O’Reilly, who leaves the post in February, said that over her 11-year tenure she didn’t once meet von der Leyen, and was “never at ease” with the “powerful consiglieri” who sit in the Commission president’s cabinet. “Consiglieri” is typically used in English as a term for advisers of a mafia boss.

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