Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-06-Speech-4-017"
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"en.20000706.3.4-017"2
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". – Mr President, I am glad to have the opportunity to address the European Parliament concerning the results of my work as European Ombudsman in the year 1999. The Annual Report for 1999 covers the last year of the first mandate of the European Ombudsman.
The Ombudsmen and similar bodies in the Member States have shown a positive attitude towards cooperation with the European Ombudsman. I strongly believe that cooperation with them on equal terms will achieve the best results for European citizens.
At the beginning, great doubts were expressed as to whether the European Ombudsman had sufficient powers to achieve anything for the citizen. These doubts were unjustified because the Community's institutions and bodies have responded properly to the Ombudsman's work. Since the beginning, they have themselves settled the complaint to the satisfaction of the complainant in over 180 cases. For example, they have replied to unanswered letters, made payments that are due and reversed previous unfavourable decisions. This indicates a spirit of responsiveness and flexibility superior to those national administrations of which I have experience. Sixty-two of these settlements occurred last year, reducing the scope for friendly solutions to be proposed by the Ombudsman. However, we did achieve one friendly solution in 1999 in a case where the Commission and the Council agreed that the complainant should be paid the amount due him for his work as a European Union regional coordinator monitoring the Palestinian elections.
If the institution or body concerned will not correct the maladministration itself, the Ombudsman's ultimate weapon is to draft a recommendation followed, if necessary, by a special report to European Parliament. Five years ago, there were many people who said that the Community institutions and bodies did not pay much heed to European Parliament. Even if they might have been right then, things have clearly changed since the Treaty of Amsterdam and the fall of the Santer Commission.
In 1999 we made ten draft recommendations. In seven cases the institution concerned has accepted a draft recommendation. In two cases the Ombudsman has made a special report to the European Parliament. One case remains ongoing, since Europol needs more time to comply with the draft recommendation that it should approve some public access to documents.
I believe that the European Ombudsman's activities have reached the level that one has the right to expect of a body which is new and consists of 25 persons working in a fairly complex legal environment. We are achieving results for European citizens, and this is what matters above all.
I would like to use this opportunity to thank all the Community institutions and bodies for another year of constructive cooperation. I would especially like to address the Commission and its responsible Member, Mrs Loyola de Palacio, and thank her for continuing her predecessor's commitment to an honest and constructive attitude towards cooperation with the Ombudsman. I would also like to express my warm appreciation for the helpful and cooperative attitude towards the Ombudsman's office shown by the Committee on Petitions and especially its vice-chairman, Mr Gemelli, and also thank the rapporteur for the Committee on Petitions Mrs Thors, for her important work on her comprehensive report.
Thank you for your attention.
Last year the Ombudsman's office received 1,577 new complaints compared to 1,372 in 1998, an increase of nearly 15%. The number of inquiries opened rose from 171 in 1998 to 206 in 1999, an increase of over 20%. As well as becoming better known, the European Ombudsman is also attracting a higher proportion of serious complaints which require full investigation. You may be interested to know that the same trend has continued to the present year. During the first six months of this year, the number of new inquiries rose by 32% over the same period in 1999.
Inquiries are the most resource-intensive aspect of the Ombudsman's work. It is therefore a great challenge to deal with this increase, whilst maintaining the quality of our work and meeting our target of closing most inquiries within one year. I do hope that the European Parliament will support the Ombudsman in seeking the resources needed to carry out the work effectively.
During 1999, we continued to receive a quite high proportion of complaints, over 70%, which lay outside the mandate of the European Ombudsman. The proportion of the complaints outside the mandate even increased slightly, probably because we received a growing number of complaints by e-mail. We gladly accept complaints by e-mail and many of them contain well – presented allegations of maladministration. However in all, more of the e-mail complaints are directed against authorities of Member States.
During the campaign for the election of a European Ombudsman last year, some critical voices suggested that the Ombudsman's mandate should be broadened to include complaints against Member States in cases where a question of European Union law is involved. I am not sure whether they understood that this would mean the European Ombudsman carrying out tasks currently belonging to the European Commission as the guardian of the Treaty, and to the European Parliament as the democratic forum to which citizens may address petitions.
We study carefully all the complaints we receive, especially if they involve rights under European Union law. In 1999, we managed to advise the complainant, or transfer the complaint to a competent body, in about half of the cases. Of these, we transferred 71 cases to the European Parliament to be dealt with as petitions and advised a further 142 complainants of their rights to petition the European Parliament.
In many cases, complaints against national, regional or local authorities could be dealt with effectively by an Ombudsman in the Member States concerned. In every Member State there should be a non-judicial body which can assist European citizens in conflicts with Member States' administration concerning their rights under European Union law.
As a believer in subsidiarity, I remain convinced that the most effective way to achieve this result is through the development of a network of cooperation with these Ombudsmen as similar bodies such as petitions committees. We organised jointly with the French Ombudsman, Mr Stasi, a seminar for national Ombudsmen and similar bodies.
In Paris in September 1999, Mr Perry, the first vice-chairman of the Committee on Petitions, represented the European Parliament. A further seminar is planned to take place in Brussels under the Belgian presidency of the Council in the year 2001 in cooperation with the Commission and with Belgium federal and regional ombudsmen. The regional Ombudsmen and similar bodies were invited to a meeting in Florence last year in which Mr Gemelli, the chairman of the Committee on Petitions, also attended. The regional Ombudsmen and similar bodies will also be invited to Brussels next year."@en1
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