BRUSSELS — High officers on the European Union’s in-house information safety authority have expensed a excessive variety of journeys to their house international locations in previous years, an evaluation by POLITICO exhibits — prompting requires nearer scrutiny from a key oversight committee.
Figures obtained by POLITICO reveal a sample through which essentially the most senior officers on the European Information Safety Supervisor (EDPS) took a big share of official missions to their very own house international locations over the 2017-2023 interval.
The findings are “deeply regarding” and “extremely irregular,” mentioned Czech center-right lawmaker Tomáš Zdechovský, who holds a key function within the European Parliament. The figures counsel that “a few of the European Union’s most senior officers seem to have used mission budgets to repeatedly journey to their house international locations beneath the pretext of official duties,” he mentioned in a remark.
The figures elevate questions concerning the oversight and approval course of for journey spending by the EU establishment, and whether or not officers are utilizing the system for private profit. POLITICO beforehand uncovered doubtful journey expense practices at different EU establishments, similar to when prime Fee official Henrik Hololei cleared himself of any battle of curiosity in taking freebie flights on Qatar Airways whereas his crew negotiated a serious aviation take care of the Gulf state.
Reacting to POLITICO’s reporting on the EDPS’ journey information, the top of the authority Wojciech Wiewiórowski on Wednesday advised Parliament he had “nothing to cover,” and the apply of sending high-level EDPS officers to their house international locations was “completely a deliberate determination.”
The EDPS is in the midst of a contested and controversial race to pick out its subsequent chief supervisor. The European Parliament and EU Council reached a stalemate in January, with the EU Council pushing to reappoint Wiewiórowski for a second time period and Parliament favoring to choose one of many European Fee’s key information safety officers, Bruno Gencarelli, to interchange him.
Residence candy house
The European Parliament’s civil liberties committee already scrutinized EDPS spending in a current opiniondrafted by Zdechovský that flagged a “vital” improve in mission prices lately and warned of a scarcity of transparency about mission bills.
Missions undertaken by EDPS employees can embrace attending conferences, occasions and official conferences, in addition to journeys to go to or audit the EU establishments that the regulator supervises.
The EDPS oversees whether or not the EU establishments are following privateness guidelines. It additionally offers recommendation to the establishments on information safety.
POLITICO examined mission journey paperwork supplied by the EDPS, analyzing its three most senior officers from 2017 to 2023: former European Information Safety Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli; present (caretaker) European Information Safety Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski; and Secretary Normal Leonardo Cervera Navas.
POLITICO additionally checked out mission journey for the company as an entire, together with round 100 lower-level staffers and officers working the secretariat of Europe’s nationwide information safety regulators’ group, the European Information Safety Board (EDPB).
Cervera Navas took a complete of 36 journeys to his native Spain over the seven-year interval. His subsequent most regularly visited international locations had been France and Germany, with six journeys every. By comparability, Wiewiórowski visited Spain 5 occasions over the identical interval, whereas Buttarelli didn’t go to the nation.
Cervera Navas was solely appointed because the company’s (first-ever) secretary basic in 2023, having beforehand joined the EDPS as a supervisor in 2010 and being appointed director in 2018. Whereas serving as director from 2018-2023 he was the one individual on the EDPS with this title; no different director has been appointed since he took up the function of secretary basic.
In the meantime, former supervisor Buttarelli, who handed away in August 2019, took 29 journeys to his house nation of Italy, in comparison with 4 journeys to his second-most visited nation, the USA, and three journeys every to France and the UK. By comparability, Wiewiórowski took 9 journeys to Italy in 2017-2023, and Cervera Navas three.
The present supervisor, Wiewiórowski, most frequently visited his house nation of Poland and the Netherlands, with 20 mission visits to every. France was third with 13 journeys.
The desire of senior officers for visiting their house international locations is even clearer when these prime officers are in contrast with all employees missions throughout the establishment.
Mission information supplied by the EDPS included particular person entries from EDPS employees, in addition to entries from the EDPB (European Information Safety Board) secretariat, which is overseen by the EDPS.
The evaluation of journey locations included each EDPS or EDPB secretariat employees as a result of the anonymized entries didn’t permit the 2 to be separated. Nevertheless, EDPB employees mission spending represented a small share of whole spending in comparison with EDPS employees missions. For instance, in 2023 whole EDPS employees mission spending (excluding prime officers Wiewiórowski and Cervera Navas) was €180,930, whereas EDPB mission prices had been €54,166.92.
Virtually half of all journeys taken by Cervera Navas over the interval had been to Spain, his house nation. In contrast, lower than 5 p.c of journey for different EDPS and EDPB staffers was to Spain.
Likewise, nearly 60 p.c of journeys taken by Buttarelli had been to Italy, in comparison with lower than 8 p.c for different EDPS and EDPB employees.
‘Deeper audit’
The European Parliament’s opinion, drafted by Zdechovský in January, raised “concern concerning the vital improve in EDPS employees mission prices” lately and known as for extra transparency. Spending rose to €284,580 in 2023 from €28,789 in 2021.
However the authority’s February rebuttal mentioned the rise had been because of the resumption of journey after the pandemic, in addition to to inflation.
Nonetheless, Zdechovský, who holds quite a lot of sway because the European Individuals’s Occasion (EPP) coordinator within the Parliament’s budgetary management committee, known as for a “deeper audit” of EDPS mission expenditures in his feedback to POLITICO, and urged that the regulator be required to publish justifications for every journey taken by senior officers.
“If patterns counsel systematic abuse, we have to be able to act, both by way of a proposal for a budgetary revision, or requires reforms to journey and mission coverage,” he mentioned.
The Parliament’s budgetary management committee is because of ship its discharge (the place it decides whether or not to log off on the accounts of an EU establishment) on the EDPS finances for 2023 on the upcoming Could plenary session in Strasbourg.
Native language requests
In response to POLITICO’s reporting, present EDPS Wojciech Wiewiórowski (who’s holding a caretaker place in the intervening time) advised members of the Parliament’s civil liberties committee on Wednesday: “We attempt to ship to the member states the individuals who can participate within the dialogue, who are usually not there simply to lecture, simply to say one thing, however who will go into the dialogue with the folks there,” he mentioned.
Following POLITICO’s reporting, EDPS Secretary-Normal Leonardo Cervera Navas advised reporters on Wednesday it was “tremendous necessary” for the authority to be clear on mission spending. “We now have to be absolutely accountable, that is the energy of our democracy … However we now have to be severe about these budgets and figures and the cash we put money into efficient supervision,” he mentioned.
He warned it might be a “mistake” to freeze spending on EDPS missions or inspections, particularly because the workplace’s duties beneath the AI Act are ramping up.
“I believe it’s actually, actually necessary that our finances on missions develop[s] and we will ship many individuals round to work together with AI particularly, and to take part in international discussions about this topic,” Cervera Navas mentioned.
The EDPS’ Head of Communication Olivier Rossignol mentioned in a remark there was “all the time a clear determination” to share occasions amongst senior officers in accordance with their native language (Italian for the late Buttarelli, Polish for Wiewiórowski and Spanish for present Secretary Normal Cervera Navas).
“Italy, Poland and Spain are three necessary Member States within the European Union that manage quite a lot of occasions and high-level conferences on information safety and privateness. These three international locations are sometimes used to work of their nationwide language as a result of [the] specialised viewers just isn’t all the time absolutely operational in English, and do recognize native audio system on knowledgeable subjects and fields,” Rossignol mentioned.
Rossignol mentioned that missions by the EDPS supervisor and secretary basic are validated by the secretary basic as head of the authority’s secretariat, whereas the secretary basic’s personal journeys are agreed and confirmed prematurely by the supervisor. He added that missions by the supervisor and secretary basic are coordinated at weekly conferences with the data and communication unit that publishes the agenda on-line, in addition to with center managers.
This text was up to date to incorporate feedback by Wiewiórowski and Cervera Navas responding to POLITICO’s preliminary reporting.