The European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, has welcomed the European Central Bank's announcement that Executive Board members will not meet or talk to the media, market participants or other outside interests on monetary policy matters in the week leading up to monetary policy meetings. This decision extends the so-called quiet period principle that Executive Board members already apply to their speeches and public remarks.

This latest move is appropriate and helps bring the bank into line with other central banks that prohibit meetings with "outside interests" in the week leading up to policy announcements.

Emily O'Reilly stated: "I am encouraged by the steps the ECB has taken since I wrote to President Draghi in May. The ECB has been entrusted with immense responsibility and I will continue to encourage it to lead the field on all aspects of good governance."

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In this two-day exchange the communication experts of the AOB presented its public relations work. This included in particular the weekly television programme called Bürgeranwalt (“Advocate for the People”), the homepage of the AOB, media work in general and also the new visitors center “VA.TRIUM”.

The numbers speak for themselves: Thanks to the intensified PR work of the last few years, the media and online presence of the AOB has risen noticeably. In 2014, for instance, 1700 statements of the AOB were printed or shown in the Austrian press, on radio or TV.

The Albanian delegation was especially interested in the above mentioned TV show Bürgeranwalt, which the AOB is organizing in a joint collaboration with the Austrian public television (ORF). Since its founding in 1977 it has had a broad impact on the Austrian public, with current audience figures of up to 400.000 households in Austria every week. The Albanian People’s Advocat Office, together with representatives of the Albanian media who were present at the meeting, is planning to launch a similar TV series in Albania. The exchange of experiences was therefore very fruitful and is a good example of the excellent bilateral cooperation between the two Ombudsman offices.