Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-16-Speech-4-017"
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"en.20061116.2.4-017"2
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"Mr President, the Ombudsman’s 2005 report indicates that a growing number of citizens are dissatisfied with the European Union’s bodies.
There is a striking lack of transparency concerning their activities and a lack of effective control over the way we spend our money. The infringement of citizens’ right to information is particularly damaging. A glaring example of this was the campaign to promote the so-called Constitution for Europe.
In March of last year I addressed a complaint to the European Ombudsman regarding the use of EUR 8 million to promote the European Constitution. This funding was only available to supporters of the Constitution. This fact was confirmed by a European Commission spokesman on 16 February 2005. In response to questions from the media on whether European Union money could be used to fund a campaign organised by opponents of the European Constitution, he said, and I quote: ‘The Commission is treating the European Constitution like its baby and cares about its ratification’ and the ‘European Union’s Office for Official Publications is not going to print pamphlets written by opponents of the Constitution.’
These frank statements by Commissioner Wallström’s spokesman explicitly show that opponents of the Constitution did not, and still do not, have any opportunity to present their views. For example, before the referendum in Spain, the European Commission spent EUR 1 million on printing 5 million pro-constitutional pamphlets and stickers, which were handed out in public places. There was a deliberate move to avoid providing information on the negative aspects of the European Constitution. This was therefore a blatant infringement of the European citizens’ fundamental right to equal access to information.
After investigating my complaint for a year, the European Ombudsman decided that the European Commission did not infringe the citizens’ right to equal access to information. In that case, who did?
When they see their credibility collapsing and disintegrating, the European Union institutions resort ever more frequently to mendacious propaganda and to funding and imposing a single, ‘true’ vision of European unity. I appreciate the Ombudsman’s efforts in the fight to achieve transparency concerning the work of the European institutions, but there is still a long way to go. Dinners with representatives of the bodies the Ombudsman are investigating are not enough to increase the credibility and authority of his office. This office should be a real Ombudsman defending our rights, an Ombudsman who speaks out for the truth and defends the citizens from the ills of the European Union machine. However, such work requires courage and autonomy."@en1
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