A meeting in May 2018 between then president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani (l) and European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly. Fast-forward a year and Tajani criticised O'Reilly's report on the confidentiality of internal documents (Photo: European Parliament)

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EU parliament rejects ombudsman over expenses

EU Political

by Peter Teffer, Brussels,

The European Parliament has dismissed a request by the European Ombudsman to publish documents related to office expenses, requested by EUobserver.

The previous parliament president, centre-right Italian Antonio Tajani, signed a letter dated 1 July, to ombudsman Emily O'Reilly, saying the parliament "respectfully disagrees" with her.

The nub of the argument is that parliament questions whether the ombudsman had the right to criticise the institution's "margin of discretion" in dec...