Carthy: ECB dismissal of Ombudsman’s G30 report must have consequences
Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy has called for action t be taken against ECB President Mario Draghi for flouting the recommendation made by EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly that he resign his membership of the G30 bankers’ lobby group.
In July, the Ombudsman released her final report on the matter, confirming her finding that Mr Draghi’s G30membership amounted to ECB maladministration. Mr Draghi continues to be a full member of the G30, and other ECB members, including a member of its supervisory board, are associated with the G30.
Addressing MEPs and Ms O’Reilly in the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week, Carthy sad: “I want to address the elephant in the room, which is the ease with which EU institutions have ignored or dismissed the recommendations made by the Ombudsman.
“I commend the Ombudsman for insisting that ECB President Mario Draghi must resign his membership of the secretive bankers club, the G30.
“Yet the outcome of the process of investigating and reporting is that nothing has changed. Less than two weeks ago, Mr Draghi took part in a G30 meeting in New York.
“The ECB is charged with directly supervising many of the financial institutions that are represented in the G30, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and many more.
“There is no system in place to ensure an ethically appropriate level of distance between the ECB decision-making and supervisory processes and their friends in the G30 bankers’ club. There is no way to ensure that the private bankers and finance CEOs of the G30 do not influence ECB policy.
“Mr Draghi’s membership of the G30 is beyond inappropriate. The ECB appears to believe it is beyond the basic norms of public scrutiny, accountability and transparency. But it faces no consequences for its outright rejection of the Ombudsman’s report.
“The Parliament needs to address this situation as a matter of utmost urgency. The EU needs to impose real consequences for institutions that dismiss the Ombudsman’s recommendations.” ENDS
