Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-06-Speech-4-030"
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"en.20010906.2.4-030"2
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". – Mr President, there were a few questions, including two that were raised in Mrs Almeida Garrett's report, which I will try to clarify.
Firstly there was the question of hearing Commissioners as witnesses and the problem that arose in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs where people felt that there might be a difficulty in drawing a line between the political control of the European Parliament, the political responsibility of Commissioners and the administrative responsibility of the same Commissioners. Many Members of the Constitutional Affairs Committee thought that this was very difficult to solve. It is very important to understand that the Commission is the executive body and in theory it is the administration of the Union which has contact with the citizen. Of course the Commissioners have administrative functions. We have had a few complaints in this connection and the Commissioners have always replied very correctly. Therefore to avoid further debate and confusion in this matter, this could be deleted from the proposal and, as the rapporteur said, one day an answer in writing might not be necessary. I would like to stress that OLAF has the right to hear the Commissioners and that was the inspiration for my proposal.
Secondly on the question of all documents. The idea that the Ombudsman has the right to see all documents is because the citizens do not have this access. Trust in the Ombudsman's work is based on the fact that the citizens accept that they cannot have access to all documents but they need to know that the Ombudsman has the right if necessary. This is the basis of their confidence in the Ombudsman's operations.
It is sometimes feared that the Ombudsman might get hold of state secrets. Having been an ombudsman now for twelve years, I have never in a case of maladministration had to ask for documents on really secret matters. I am not aware of any case in which an ombudsman has leaked documents. The principle must, however, be in place that the Ombudsman has the right to see documents. We have had some problems of interpretation here and we have lost time on both sides.
Mr Prodi asked for a debate on the White Paper and this is what I have tried to start. It is very important that the White Paper is discussed because there is still one run to go. I would hope for some more concrete proposals.
I will now turn to the criticism about the low number of complaints, publicising the work of the Ombudsman institutions, and the many complaints outside the mandate. First of all our mandate lies entirely within the European Union. Citizens may find this difficult to understand when they encounter problems with Community law. They go to a Parliament Information Office or Commission Representation, get our form and complain to us. We try to rectify the situation. There is the possibility that this limits the number of complaints but the number has been increasing over the years.
On the question of publicising the Ombudsman's work, I would mention that we are more known than many ombudsmen on the national stage and Members of Parliament can surely do a lot to tell citizens about the right to petition and the right of complaint to the Ombudsman. After all it is you who meet the Europeans out there. It is you who have the contact with the public. If you tell people about the possibilities then they will become much better known. Many of you have done that and I am grateful.
I am really honoured that I had the possibility to discuss these matters. I am very grateful for the comments made by Mrs de Palacio and all of you here and thank you very much for your work."@en1
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