The personal life of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, as well as his main ally Putin, is shrouded in great mystery, but it is known that once the scandalous politician had a wife named Galina.
It is known that Lukashenka was married only once to Galina Zhelnerovich. A woman born in 1955 from an ordinary Belarusian family. She met the future politician and friend of the Russian dictator at school, in the village of Ryzhkovichi. Together they entered the Mogilev Institute at the Faculty of History, and after graduating from the institute in 1975, young Lukashenko proposed to Galina on the banks of the Dnieper during a date. In marriage, the couple had two sons – Victor and Dmitry.
Although the divorce was never officially formalized, the couple did not live together for very many years. While the children were small, Galina worked in a kindergarten, from January 1998 she headed the department of the Mogilev Regional Executive Committee for the improvement of the population, she organizes sanatorium treatment for residents, but it is not known what she is doing now.
Officially, she almost never appeared with her husband, for all the years of Lukashenko’s presidency, she accompanied him only once on a trip abroad – to Israel in 1994. Allegedly, Lukashenko’s wife has a house in her native Ryzhkovichi with a high fence, which appeared after the newspapers published a photo in which Galina milks a cow, allegedly this made her husband very angry and he ordered to take the cow away from her, and enclose the house with a high brick wall and put on guard.
During the elections in 2020, it became known that Galina is still listed as the wife of the Belarusian dictator – the CEC of Belarus cited the data of her declaration as the wife of a presidential candidate.
Why this marriage ended is also a mystery. But either Galina did not want to lose her quiet life in the village and move to Minsk with her husband after he went into politics, or the constant betrayals of Lukashenko became the reason. Now the odious politician is often seen in public with young girls. Moreover, in 2004, Lukashenko’s third son, Nikolai, was born, but who the mother of the 17-year-old heir is also a mystery.
In total, Kadyrov has 10 children, but so far the Internet star is only 23-year-old Aishat, who loves attention and reverence very much.
During the Russian-Ukrainian war, Ramzan Kadyrov won the fame of Putin’s main “tiktok warrior”, because, together with his associates, he constantly spreads fakes. However, in fact, the whole life of the Chechen dictator is a fake, because no one knows how Kadyrov actually lives, how much money he receives from the Kremlin. The Internet “don” himself wears Prada branded items, lives in several castles in the center of Grozny, has several wives, and appoints his children to the highest positions in the republic.
One of Kadyrov’s favorites is his eldest daughter Aishat. The girl is 23 years old, and she is not only an exemplary Muslim woman, but also a successful business woman.
Aishat in 2016, when she was 17 years old, headed the Firdaws Fashion House, founded by her mother Medni Kadyrova back in 2009. The brand specializes in clothing for Muslim women, so short or open items are not found in the collections. Boutiques operate in Grozny, Moscow, Makhachkala and Dubai.
The prices for the things of the Chechen princess are rather high and vary around 200-500 dollars per item, dresses with embroidery and men’s suits, of course, are much more expensive, some Firdaws prices exceed thousands of dollars. Fashion shows were also always held on a grand scale abroad, and quite famous personalities visited them. In 2020, the young designer, her mother and father, and sister Khadijat were included in the US sanctions list, which bans them from entering the country because they are involved in human rights corruption.
When Aishat turned 21, her father decided that fashion alone was not enough for her, so he appointed his daughter to the post of First Deputy Minister of Culture of Chechnya. He justified his decision by the fact that, despite her young age, Aishat has rich experience in managing complex and large-scale projects, in particular, in the field of culture. In October 2021, the girl became the Minister of Culture, but this time on the recommendation of the head of the government of Chechnya, Muslim Khuchiev.
Despite praise from his father, in 2022, the Firdaws brand accounts were blocked due to non-payment of taxes. The exact amount of Aishat’s debt was not named, but enforcement proceedings were initiated for 1.6 thousand rubles. By the end of January, the company allegedly paid off its debts, but announced that due to technical reasons, it was closing stores for a while.
Little is known about Aishat’s personal life, except that she was born in 1998 in the village of Tsentoroy. She studied at school until the sixth grade, and then switched to home schooling and studied the Koran and Arabic for nine hours a day.
In 2016, the girl entered the Faculty of Economics of the Chechen State University, and in 2017 she married the son of a close friend of Kadyrov, whom she met two weeks before the wedding. Who is Kadyrova’s husband is unknown, and she does not share the details of her personal life.
Every day, in the places we live, and around the world, we hear stories of heartache, loss and human cruelty. And every day, across the URI Network, Cooperation Circles are living stories of peace, justice and healing – Rev. Lauren Van Ham • Climate Action Coordinator of United Religions Initiative invites all interested URI Cooperation Circles (CCs) and Friends to join the URI Climate Action.
In more and more countries, people are rallying for laws that protect the rights of nature. “Ecocide” is a term to describe the massive destruction being done to eco-systems everywhere. It is the result of the harmful and polluting practices of multi-national corporations and horribly short-sighted political decisions. Just as Soil, Birds and Trees work together to create a healthy eco-system, Peace, Justice and Healing work together to create healthy communities. We need both — healthy communities protecting healthy eco-systems AND thriving eco-systems supporting thriving communities.
Do you remember, the “Drawdown Solutions”? Sometimes, caring for Earth doesn’t look like planting a garden. It can also mean helping girls stay in school or working for gender equity. Working to restore Earth and taking good care of one other are almost always related.
In a few weeks, just before World Environment Day, the Stockholm+50 conference will happen in Sweden. This UNEP gathering honors its 50 years of existence and will be two days of important meetings about the health of our planet’s eco-systems as well as global greenhouse gas emission targets.
Has your CC made plans for honoring June 5th, World Environment Day? How is your community creating Peace, Justice and Healing by also tending the Soil, Trees or other Earth restoration activity? When we think globally and act locally, we become the change and embody the prayer.
If your CC is doing a project to restore or protect an eco-system, or if you are actively working to reach one of the environmentally-focused Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), please check out the WEBSITE that helps track the great work environmental action happening, thanks to faith groups, interfaith collaboration and indigenous practices. You can share your project by completing the SUBMISSION FORM.
I love hearing from you and our efforts are stronger when we share them and learn together. Please send your stories if you are looking for a resource or want to be in communication with other CCs working to restore Earth.
In Europe, a complete end to any covid restrictions has come. Since May 16, the Austrian authorities, previously distinguished by their particularly zealous fight against Covid-19 and unvaccinated citizens, removed the last covid barriers: travelers from all over the world are allowed entry without restrictions, which put an end to the difficult conditions for the movement of tourists between European countries. The news about the cancellation of measures to combat coronavirus at the entrance was announced by the official tourism portal of Austria.
“Traveling to Austria is possible for tourism purposes. From May 16, confirmation of vaccination / recovery or a test is no longer needed, ”the portal said in a message.
In other words, tourists, regardless of their country of origin, can now travel to Austria for any purpose without presenting a valid certificate of vaccination, recovery or testing upon arrival. In addition, travelers are no longer required to fill out a pre-trip form. Recall that earlier this requirement applied to those who did not have any of the medical certificates.
In addition to lifting its entry rules, Austria has already lifted internal restrictions: tourists are no longer required to wear a protective mask or present a single 3G pass when visiting various public places and events, such as cafes, restaurants and hotels.
The Austrian authorities are believed to have decided to lift entry rules and have now opened the border to all travelers due to the country’s low infection rate. Thus, according to WHO information, 29,576 new cases of COVID-19 infection have been registered in Austria over the past seven days.
In addition, the portal indicates that Austria has a high percentage of vaccinations. As of May 12, 83.1% of the total adult population in the country received the first component of the vaccine, and 68.7% received an additional dose of the vaccine.
With the exception of Austria, another 15 EU/EEA countries have also already waived all of their COVID-19 entry rules. Among them: Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Switzerland. All travelers can enter the above countries without restrictions, even if they do not have a valid vaccination certificate, as well as a certificate of illness or a negative PCR test result. However, some popular European destinations, primarily Germany and Portugal, have retained the covid entry conditions.
A publishing house known for supporting local creative works and not shying away from tomes on political issues has said that the organizers of the Hong Kong Book Fair have rejected its application to exhibit.
In response, Hillway Culture said it would set up another book show that “truly belongs to Hongkongers” instead.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the publisher said it was notified by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) that its application to participate in the Hong Kong Book Fair 2022 was not accepted.
Hillway Culture said it had participated in the book fair twice in the past. In January this year, it applied to take part in the book show according to the standard procedure.
“The application process and communication have been smooth as usual. HKTDC also sent an email earlier to inform us about participating in a booth selection meeting on May 6 at 10am,” the post read.
“However, HKDTC suddenly called us at 7pm on May 5, claiming that there was a ‘technical problem’ and that the booth selection meeting had to be temporarily canceled.”
Hillway Culture added that the organizers sent another email at 11pm, reiterating that “due to unforeseen technical problems”, the selection would be delayed, and new arrangements would be announced as soon as possible.
However, the publisher said it received an email from HKDTC on Monday, notifying it that its application was not accepted and its deposit would be refunded.
Hillway Culture added that, since there was no explanation, it called the organizers on Tuesday to find out why, but was just told that “no more information could be provided.”
The publishing house said it did not see any reason for its application to be rejected given that it had been an exhibitor in the past and has no record of violating any rules. Moreover, it applied for a bigger booth area and would have been paying more participation fees this year, it added.
It said the organizers’ handling led it to suspect there is an inside story to the rejection.
The annual Hong Kong Book Fair is one of the largest book shows in Asia.
For many years, it was regarded as a bastion of publishing freedom, with the event drawing many mainland Chinese who would buy books banned on the mainland.
However, at last year’s fair – the first to be held after Beijing imposed the national security law in Hong Kong – many booksellers and publishers steered clear of books that could be seen as violating the law by some, especially politically sensitive tomes.
Hillway Culture was one of the few booths that still exhibited such books, with some groups reporting it for selling three titles that they claimed violated the security law.
The publisher said police officers later inspected its booth and told it that there were no problems with its books.
It added that HKTDC did not give it any warnings or mention anything about violations.
Hillway Culture reiterated that it has always indicated its willingness to follow the procedures of HKTDC and law enforcement agencies in its interviews with the media.
“We are well aware that we are not a publishing organization that is close to the official position, but allowing the general public to express dissent and recognize voices from across the spectrum is what it should be like to respect Hong Kong’s core values such as freedom of speech and freedom of the press,” said Hillway Culture in its statement.
It also expressed great regret over HKTDC’s decision.
Responding to queries from Coconuts, an HKTDC spokesman said: “In organizing any event, it is not uncommon that some applications may not be successful. We do not comment on individual cases.”
In its Facebook post, Hillway Culture also announced an alternative book fair it is organizing, which roughly translates as the “Hongkonger Book Fair”.
“As the name suggests, we hope to hold a book fair that truly belongs to Hongkongers and one that Hongkongers deserve to own,” said the publisher.
According to its event page, the tentative date of the book show will be somewhere in July or August for five to seven days.
It will be held online and in person in Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Mong Kok or other accessible spots.
The Moldovan President addressed the Parliament on 18 May. Discover how the EU is supporting Moldova, especially following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President
Moldovan President Maia Sandu was in the Parliament to discuss the war in Ukraine and its impact on her country, which has played a major role caring for Ukrainian refugees.
Welcoming the Moldovan President to the Parliament, Parliament President Roberta Metsola praised the country for taking in Ukrainian refugees and said the Parliament supports Moldova’s EU application: “We know that Moldova is looking at us with a sense of purpose. Every country must follow its own path, its own timeline, but we must not be afraid to use the power of Europe to improve people’s lives, to change generations. And this is why the European Union needs to send a clear and firm political message that we recognise the European aspirations of Moldova and your efforts in implementing key reforms that bring your country closer to us. Moldova belongs in the European family.”
“Almost half a million Ukrainians crossed our border, and around 90,000 are still with us, hosted by my big-hearted fellow citizens,” Sandu told MEPs. “Half of the refugees today are children. And this constitutes 10% of the total number of children in the country.”
She called for support for Moldova’s bid to join the EU: “I ask you to increase the EU’s support for Moldova – for the sake of Moldovans who want to preserve their democracy and freedom, but also for the sake of Europe – to have a stable, predictable and reliable partner and contributor to peace in its eastern neighbourhood.
“Our independence, peaceful development, economic and political reforms must have an anchor and this anchor is a clear perspective of EU accession, the status of a candidate country.”
Existing cooperation
The EU and Moldova enjoy close ties. In 2014 they concluded an association agreement as well as a deep and comprehensive trade agreement, which entered into force in 2016. The EU is Moldova’s largest trading partner.
Application for EU membership
On 3 March 2022, Moldova submitted a formal application for European Union membership, a decision that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a resolution adopted on 5 May, Parliament welcomed Moldova’s formal EU membership application and said the EU should grant it candidate status.
Old Orhei Monastery at sunrise in Moldova Republic
War in Ukraine
Moldova has been significantly affected by the Russian war against Ukraine. Since the start of the invasion nearly half a million Ukrainian refugees have arrived, of which about 90,000 remain. On 24 March, Parliament consented to Frontex operational support for Moldova, including at its borders with Ukraine. On the same day, MEPs also agreed to provide Moldova with €150 million in macro-financial aid to cover part of its external financing needs. Shortly afterwards, a European Parliament delegation travelled to Moldova to assess the situation there.
The war in Ukraine has led to lost trade and higher energy and transport prices in Moldova.
In the resolution adopted on 5 May, MEPs called on the EU to provide more support to Moldova, for example through new macro-financial assistance, further transport and trade liberalisation measures and continued support for refugee management and humanitarian efforts.
Transnistria
There are also concerns about the security situation in Transnistria, the Russian-backed breakaway region on the Moldovan-Ukrainian border, where several “security incidents” were reported in April. Moldovan authorities called these a provocation with the aim of destabilising the region.
On 5 May, MEPs said they considered these incidents dangerous acts of provocation in a highly volatile security situation. The also reiterated Parliament’s support for a “comprehensive, peaceful and lasting political settlement of the Transnistrian conflict,” i.e. based on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova within its internationally recognised borders, and with the removal of Russian forces based there.
The importance of mass casualty training in the context of the war in Ukraine: an interview with Professor Johan von Schreeb
Johan von Schreeb is Professor of Global Disaster Medicine in the Department of Global Public Health at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, and leads the Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters, a WHO collaborating centre that runs courses in global disaster medicine. Most recently, he has been rolling out mass casualty training in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.
What is your background and your experience of dealing with mass casualty situations?
I am a medical doctor trained in general surgery. I’ve done several missions around the world over the last 35 years, starting with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Afghanistan, dealing with natural disasters as well as conflicts.
From 2014, I was WHO’s Emergency Medical Team Coordinator, which included providing trauma-care support in Mosul, Iraq, in 2016–2017, and conducting trauma-care trainings in the active conflict zones of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, in 2017 and Yemen in 2018. In 2021, I continued to support WHO in Lebanon following the explosion in Beirut, and conducted trainings on mass casualty management in Iraq.
My role started as a trauma surgeon, but as time has gone on, I have taken on more of a coordinating position, trying to get all the different emergency actors together, working with ministries of health in affected countries, ensuring that standards are applied and making sure staff on the ground get appropriate training.
What has your role been during the Ukraine war?
WHO asked me to coordinate international assistance to Ukraine, focusing on trauma and rehabilitation. The context has been quite complex. On the one hand, you have a well functioning health system, with something like 1600 hospitals spread around the country, employing thousands of skilled surgeons. But on the other hand, these surgeons are not really used to dealing with the types of injuries that we are now seeing in this conflict, which creates a real challenge for the health system.
So, my role is to try to support the Ministry of Health, the surgeons and the hospitals with our team of international experts, but to do that in a respectful way. We try to cover the gaps, to add additional knowledge and to put into practice our expertise in managing casualty surges.
Why is training local staff so important?
As I mentioned, health staff are not used to dealing with the types and numbers of injuries that you get in war situations. Many conflict-related injuries can lead to heavy bleeding, so time is the crucial factor. Everyone involved in what we call the trauma pathway needs to know what they are doing to get the patient stabilized as quickly as possible. Those on the spot, close to the injured person, need to immediately try to stop the bleeding by applying pressure, or by using a tourniquet if it’s an injured limb. Then, the most important thing is to transport the patient as fast as possible to a hospital where they can surgically stop the bleeding; otherwise, the patient is likely to die.
What does the mass casualty management training consist of?
We simulate a range of injuries on around 60 artificial patients and then take our trainees through how to effectively manage the patient flow. This starts with initial patient assessments – checking airways, breathing, circulation, disability and exposure – which most emergency physicians already know. However, doing this in a trauma setting and with many patients at once can be a real challenge.
We also consider how the emergency room needs to be prepared to receive large numbers of patients and teach the trainees how to triage, or sort the patients with a colour-coding system, depending on the severity of their injuries and their priority for surgery. Obviously, those requiring resuscitation or with critical injuries are considered code red and taken into the emergency room as soon as possible, so they can rapidly get the care they need to hopefully save their lives.
What value does WHO bring to the training and to mass casualty situations?
WHO’s Emergency Medical Teams have been in existence for over 10 years, so we have a lot of accumulated knowledge and experience from a range of emergency situations. We also have academic experts who work with WHO to publish papers and update protocols, to make sure that what we teach is really up to date. It’s thanks to all this combined experience and expertise that WHO is able to develop good guidelines and good minimum standards, and to implement everything in a systematic way while involving staff in the affected countries.
What is the context in Ukraine, and what impact has this had on what you deliver in the training?
It’s important to stress that what we teach has to be adapted to the particular context – you cannot do the same type of training in Ukraine as you would in Somalia, South Sudan, or Afghanistan, for instance. Prior to the conflict, Ukraine had a strong health system, with many skilled doctors and nurses and a lot of hospitals. Sadly, several facilities have since been subject to bombing and are destroyed.
At the moment, it’s often a real challenge to get close to where the wounded patients are, as they are usually in insecure areas of active conflict that are hard to access. Despite this, the Ukrainian health system is managing well to deal with injured patients, either at the site of injury or by transporting them for surgery elsewhere.
Even so, there are gaps in knowledge and resources which we are trying to fill. For instance, we are seeing very complicated injuries, such as open fractures and nasty wounds from flying shrapnel that are really difficult to manage, so we’ve brought in orthoplastic surgery specialists to work alongside local surgeons. We’re also seeing many children with fractured limbs, so have introduced a type of metal system that allows surgeons to stabilize fractures from the outside.
A particularly important part of this gap-filling has been to ensure there is a functioning blood bank, because with heavily bleeding patients you need around 10 times more blood than you would expect for a normal trauma patient.
So, while there are some gaps to be filled, training Ukrainian surgeons and health-care staff to continue this work will help them develop their skills in areas that you only get in mass casualty situations.
How many people have participated in the training in Ukraine?
In addition to the hands-on training, which has so far involved 200 participants, we’ve been doing a twice-weekly webinar on damage control surgery, which has been attended by over 450 participants each time from all over Ukraine.
Students on all our courses have been very attentive and keen to learn, because they know the mass casualty situations we simulate are something they could very easily have to deal with in real life. Indeed, yesterday, we ran a workshop on mass casualty management in a hospital which 3 weeks ago had to deal with 100 injured patients because of a bombing. So, for many, dealing with mass casualties is already a sad and stark reality.
How could this training be of long-term benefit?
Surgeons nowadays tend to be specialized in 1 area of expertise. This training means they broaden their skills and knowledge to manage a range of different types of injuries, which is beneficial to the national health system when surge capacity is needed. It also means they could consider joining international emergency medical teams to be deployed to other mass casualty situations around the world as needed, and train up the next generation of surgeons in the process.
COMECE and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) invite you to participate in the 2nd edition of the Catholic Youth Convention on the Future of Europe, to be held on Tuesday 31 May and Thursday 2 June 2022 on the theme “Sharing our dreams on the future of Europe”. Registration now open
Screenshot of the 2021 Catholic Youth Convention. (Credit: COMECE)
The event is organised in the context of the 2022 “European Year of Youth” and at the conclusion of the plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Participants will be able to enter into dialogue with EU policymakers from the EU institutions on the following 3 topics (see draft programme: 31 May – 2 June):
Youth and South-East Europe(31 May) – with EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi;
The Future of Christian Democracy(2 June) – including welcoming remarks by H.Em. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, President of COMECE;
Dialogue withRepresentatives of the Plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe(2 June).
Participants will include young people delegated by the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU, and young people from the network of the COMECE Youth Platform. This event is also open to all people who are interested to hear the voice of young people regarding the Future of Europe. Young people from all around Europe are strongly encouraged to participate.
The event will take place online, via Zoom. Registration for the 2nd Catholic Youth Convention on the Future of Europe is now open.
Vienna (Austria), 18 May 2022 – Last Monday, on the opening day of the thirty-first session of the Commission of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), a special event was held taking stock and reporting on initiatives launched since the adoption of the Kyoto Declaration.
The Kyoto Declaration came out of the Fourteenth United Nations (UN) Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and was adopted by consensus in Kyoto on 7 March 2021. Member States recommitted to a multilateral approach in preventing and combating crimes and promoting the rule of law and reaffirmed that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is the leading UN entity supporting them in this approach.
Japan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UNin Vienna, Takeshi Hikihara, chaired and moderated the special event, during which initiatives were reported on including those funded by Japan and implemented by UNODC.
Ambassador Hikihara is also chairing the CCPCJ at its thirty-first session. In his opening remarks , he underlined that “scaling up the implementation of crime prevention and criminal justice policy commitments is one of the key priorities of our commission”.
In her intervention, Ms. Ghada Waly, Executive Director of UNODC, recalled that the “crime congresses have long played an essential role in developing and agreeing holistic justice solutions to strengthen the rule of law and help build a resilient, inclusive society that leaves no one behind”.
Another speaker, Ambassador Xavier Sticker of France, stressed the importance of furthering initiatives to combat crimes that affect the environment at all levels, by using the tools provided by the Kyoto Declaration and exchanging good practices among experts.
The special event also featured interventions by Japan’s State Minister and Assistant Vice-Minister of Justice, the UN Asia and Far East Institute, and the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, as well as UNODC. Additionally, it included a panel discussion with national experts that participated in the negotiations of the Kyoto Declaration.
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The CCPCJ is the UN’s principal policymaking body in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice and works to improve international action to combat national and transnational crime and make criminal justice administration systems fairer and more efficient.
The Kyoto Declaration called upon the CCPCJ to adopt policy and operational measures appropriate to following up on the declaration, to identify innovative uses of any information that details progress made in its implementation, and to engage with other relevant stakeholders and strengthen global partnerships that will advance crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law.
The European Commission risks undermining the integrity of the EU administration without a more robust approach to the movement of staff to the private sector, the Ombudsman concluded following a broad inquiry into ‘revolving doors’.
While the Commission has made improvements since the last Ombudsman inquiry, it still needs to do more. The Commission should:
1. Forbid jobs temporarily if they pose risks that cannot be offset by restrictions or if restrictions cannot credibly be monitored and enforced.
2. Make its approval of a new job conditional on the staff member obtaining a commitment from the new employer to publish any restrictions on its website.
3. Publish the decisions on staff members’ new jobs faster.
“The movement of regulators into sectors they formerly regulated has become a problematic issue in Brussels, yet this is not fully reflected in how the EU administration deals with the matter,” said European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly.
“There is a tendency to underestimate the corrosive effects of officials bringing their knowledge and networks to related areas in the private sector.
The EU administration is at a critical point in its treatment of ‘revolving doors’. Failing to control the practice now will allow the embedding of a culture that may erode public confidence in the integrity and expertise of the EU institutions.
Permanent jobs in the EU administration imply a commitment to the public good over the long term. They should not be seen as a stepping stone to related jobs in the private sector,” said the Ombudsman.
The inquiry covered a sample of 100 decisions taken by the Commission in 2019-2021, across 14 Directorates-General, all Commissioner cabinets, the Commission’s Legal Service, and the Secretariat-General. Of these 100 decisions, the Commission prohibited only two activities. The Ombudsman did not find maladministration, see here for the inquiry findings.
Today, the Ombudsman is also launching her Annual Report for 2021, with complaints related to transparency and accountability accounting for the biggest proportion of inquiries (29%).
The Report documents the Ombudsman’s work on improving public access to documents, including by publishing a guide for the EU institutions to help them fully meet their obligations in this area. It gives details on a range of inquiries including whether Frontex’s complaints mechanism could be made more accessible, how the Commission ensures Croatian authorities respect fundamental rights in the context of border management operations, and how the European Investment Bank should improve transparency about the projects it finances.
In 2021, the Ombudsman opened 338 inquiries – of which six were on her own initiative – while the average length of time for an inquiry was less than four months.
The Annual Report also features the European Ombudsman’s new logo – officially launched today – representing the office’s mission: accountability, transparency, and trust.
