The purpose of this website is to provide information about the negotiations on the Interinstitutional Ethics Body. The Interinstitutional Ethics Body itself will have a separate website once it has been set up.
Background
In spring 2024 eight of the institutions and advisory bodies of the EU set out in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union validated and signed the Agreement to establish the Interinstitutional Ethics Body. The preceding negotiations were based on the Commission’s proposal for a joint agreement to establish an Interinstitutional Ethics Body common to all institutions and advisory bodies of the EU from 8 June 2023. The Interinstitutional Ethics Body will foster a common culture of integrity and ethics for the European Union’s institutions. Furthermore, it will contribute to the accountability of the members of the institutions.
On 15 May 2024 the participating institution’s representatives met for a joint public signing ceremony
Participating Institutions
Eight institutions and advisory bodies will participate in the Interinstitutional Ethics Body:
- European Parliament
- Council of the EU
- European Commission
- Court of Justice of the EU
- European Central Bank
- European Court of Auditors
- European Economic and Social Committee
- European Committee of the Regions
The European Investment Bank has the opportunity to join the agreement in the future.
Composition and Role of the Interinstitutional Ethics Body
The Interinstitutional Ethics Body is composed of one senior member representing each participating institution and advisory body, at least at the rank of Vice-President or a corresponding position in his/her institution and five independent experts. These independent experts have an advisory function and assist the Body. The position of the Chair of the Body will rotate every year between the participating institutions and advisory bodies.
The Secretariat of the Interinstitutional Ethics Body will be composed of the official responsible for ethical rules in each of the participating institutions and will be administratively hosted within the Commission. Its coordination is carried out by the party chairing the Interinstitutional Ethics Body, thus also changing annually.
The Interinstitutional Ethics Body shall contribute to a common culture of ethics and transparency among the Parties. It will develop and update common minimum standards for ethical conduct and for general procedures to ensure and monitor compliance. The Parties shall reflect these standards in their internal rules and the Body will hold exchanges of views on the alignment of those internal rules with the standards. The Body will publish reports on those exchanges of views. Additionally, the independent experts can be consulted by a participating institution or advisory body on individual declarations of interest or other individual standardised written declarations of their members in cases which require specific consideration or for the purpose of developing or updating an ethical standard.
Members of the Interinstitutional Ethics Body
The names of the Members of the Interinstitutional Ethics Body will be published as soon as the Parties to the Interinstitutional Ethics Body’s Agreement will have appointed them.
Further information
Further information will be made public in the future on an independent website of the Interinstitutional Ethics Body.
Negotiations
The first political meeting took place on 7 July 2023. In the following months six political meetings were held. Their minutes are published below in the section “Documents”.
Documents