Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-06-Speech-4-353"
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"en.20000706.13.4-353"2
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".
The annual reports from the Ombudsman and the Committee on Petitions belong to the traditions of this House. Parliament in turn responds to the reports from both these bodies with two reports of its own that do not vary greatly from year to year.
There is a new feature, however, this year. The Thors report, supported in particular by the work of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and Mr Söderman’s request, is attempting to give the Ombudsman a general right of access to all the documents that need to be consulted when investigating the case for a complaint. We are opposed to this proposal, not because we reject supervision of the administration, but because such powers exceed the jurisdiction of an Ombudsman and approximate to those of a judge.
It is obvious, and we will certainly not deny it, that the frenzied Community administration and the ravages it causes cannot but add to the dissatisfaction of our fellow citizens and, hence, give rise to ever more appeals. The proliferation of competencies, the diversification of spheres of intervention and the legislative bulimia of the Commission and the European Parliament will no doubt do nothing to make this phenomenon any better.
The Ombudsman and his colleagues are not, however, the right people to meet these challenges. It is our political responsibility to cut such disputes off at source by giving our work precedence over issuing activist texts to justify our existence, with proper respect for the principle of subsidiarity which will prevent the European Union ruling on subjects that are none of its concern, and by ourselves, if necessary, making use of the authority we have in terms of supervising Community bodies.
Too often we have seen this House hiding behind expert committees because it refused to accept its own political responsibilities. If we have to allow the Ombudsman to monitor administrative problems, we must, for our part, learn how, before and after the fact, to control the insane Community machinery which is running amok. The excesses we must fight are often the product of the very nature of the current construction of Europe, something we must tackle at the very root."@en1
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