Rapport van het EP over jaarverslag 2007 van Europese Ombudsman roept op tot meer initiatieven om bewustzijn van burgers te vergroten (en)

The European Parliament adopted a report on the 2007 annual report of the European Ombudsman's activities. Nikiforos Diamandouros i, the European Ombudsman from April 1, 2003 took part in the debate preceding the vote. The report calls for all EU institutions and bodies to be given the necessary budgetary and human resources to ensure that citizens receive prompt and substantive responses to their enquiries, complaints and petitions.

Citizens need more information

The report stresses the need to further enhance the public profile of the Ombudsman. Although the number of inadmissible complaints received by the Ombudsman was lower in 2007 than in 2006, the report calls for a further reduction in the number of complaints which do not fall within the Ombudsman's remit. It considers that high-quality information may help and suggests that a common website be put in place to assist citizens.

Similarly, the report welcomes the development of an interactive manual which helps citizens identify the most suitable forum for resolving their problems. This is in recognition of the fact that citizens are not always able to distinguish between institutions when it comes to filing a complaint or petition.

More on responsibilities of Ombudsman and EU institutions

With regard to complaints that do not fall within the Ombudsman's terms of reference, Mr Diamandouros will be asked to commit himself to directly forwarding each complaint to the national or regional ombudsman concerned.

With regard to the Commission, the report calls on the Ombudsman to ensure that the it makes proper use of its discretionary powers to initiate infringement proceedings, while taking scrupulous care to avoid delays or unjustifiable failure to take prompt action, which are incompatible with the Commission's powers to oversee the application of EU law.

It also repeats its call for all EU institutions and bodies to adopt a common approach with regard to the Code of Good Administrative Behaviour. The Code, which is addressed to European citizens and civil servants, informs citizens of good administration procedures and advises civil servants on what principles to observe in their activities.

In general, the report considers that Mr Diamandouros has "continued to exercise his powers in an active and balanced way".

Parliament considers that the term 'maladministration' should be broadly interpreted so as to include not only administrative acts which infringe rules or principles laid down by the Treaties or by secondary legislation but also, for example, cases where the administrative authorities themselves have assumed certain obligations through, for instance, the adoption of a code of good administrative behaviour or where approved policies or declarations of a political nature have given rise to legitimate and reasonable expectations among citizens.

The House supports the Ombudsman's efforts to promote good administration through additional remarks and suggestions to institutions and bodies even when he has not found any instance of maladministration during his inquiries, but nevertheless considers that improvements are needed in light of the objective of developing a citizen-friendly and service-minded culture within the EU's administration.