Selection process for EU privacy chief triggers complaints to ombudsman

Published connected 22/08/2025 - 10:29 GMT+2 •Updated 11:00

The EU Ombudsman has received 2 complaints astir nan ongoing process for selecting a caller European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), nan Ombudsman's agency has confirmed to Euronews. 

The agency said that it received a title earlier nan summertime concerning nan process to prime a caller caput of nan privateness watchdog, which is responsible for overseeing whether nan EU institutions comply pinch information protection rules. 

The Ombudsman's agency said it hasn't yet opened an enquiry connected nan rumor since nan European Commission has not been fixed clip to respond to nan issues raised. In nan meantime nan agency said it had received a 2nd complaint, which it's still successful nan process of analysing to see whether to unfastened an inquiry.

The instruction of nan existent EDPS, Poland’s Wojciech Wiewiórowski expired December past year, but still no determination has been taken connected who should switch him.

The process to find a caller caput of nan authority is successful deadlock aft nan European Parliament and EU personnel states backed different candidates for nan domiciled aft a short database selected by nan Commission appeared successful hearings successful January this year.

Representatives of nan Parliament and personnel states person held various meetings since past to resoluteness nan rumor but person grounded truthful far to travel to an agreement.

Independence

The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, LIBE, voted to name long-time Commission charismatic Bruno Gencarelli, from Italy, while nan personnel states are backing Wiewiórowski to enactment connected for different mandate.

Gencarelli’s candidature raised questions from deliberation vessel nan Centre for AI & Digital Humanism and a group of privateness academics successful March. He spent 12 years moving successful managerial roles connected information protection astatine nan Commission, and was formerly a caput of nan executive's International Affairs and Data Flows Unit.

They wrote to nan Parliament and Commission presidents arsenic good arsenic nan Council Presidency, saying that appointing him would beryllium “a usurpation of nan constitutionally protected complete independency of EDPS and of nan rule of bully administration,” adding that nan adjacent privateness main should beryllium a “candidate whose independency is beyond doubt”.

None of nan institutions person replied to nan letter, according to a root acquainted pinch nan issue. 

The EDPS occupation has ne'er been held by a erstwhile Commission official: Wiewiórowski, arsenic good arsenic his predecessors Peter Hustinx (2004-2009 and 2009-2014) and Giovanni Buttarelli (2014 -2019) each antecedently worked astatine nationalist supervisory authorities. 

In nan absence of a caller caput of nan watchdog, Wiewiórowski is continuing his work. 

The Commission antecedently told Euronews that it cannot remark connected nan existent authorities of nan procedure, adding that location is nary deadline successful nan process, and that nan existent EDPS “stays successful spot until nan caller 1 is appointed”.

Established successful 2004, nan EDPS is incapable to good tech giants for breaches of EU privateness rules — that's a competence of nan nationalist information protection authorities — it publishes opinions connected legislative proposals and weighs successful connected upcoming integer legislation.