Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-25-Speech-4-008"
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"en.20071025.2.4-008"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like first to thank the Ombudsman for his excellent work as is borne out by this particular report. I should also like to thank the Legal Services of the Commission and all my parliamentary colleagues on the committee, especially the shadow rapporteur and Mr Mavrommatis, for their cooperation.
The report also shows that there are still some grey areas in relation to the Commission making wrong use of its discretionary powers by failing to take prompt action before legal proceedings were begun, using political considerations as a pretext. With regard to contracts and staff management, some of the investigations launched by the Ombudsman on his own initiative show how his powers provide an effective means of goading the administrative authorities into self-regulation, a sound principle that needs to be put to increasing use.
In the view of the Committee on Petitions, however, the lack of synchronicity in timing and views with regard to the handling of the same case by the Ombudsman and Parliament needs to be avoided through ongoing and constructive dialogue.
The Committee on Petitions has also issued a special invitation to the Ombudsman to investigate the systems used by EPSO, again with a view to protecting the rights of candidates, especially young candidates, in the European Parliament’s competition procedures, and to investigate alleged discrimination reported at the European School in Brussels.
In this year’s report, Madam President, the focus is on the Ombudsman’s role as a key actor in the Union’s democratic life. He is a vital intermediary for citizens in their dealings with public authorities. His effective activities highlight the distinction between good and bad administration, offering guidance on recognising mistakes, and seeking satisfactory solutions for complainants, likely to transform bad conduct into good.
To this end, it would be valuable if the Ombudsman were to draw up a list of best administrative practices, including not just exemplary cases, but less creditable ones as well. One of the cardinal principles that always has to be stressed is the democratic equality of all Europe’s citizens, without any distinction or discrimination on the grounds of nationality or language; something on which the Ombudsman can rely in his continuing efforts to scrutinise and protect linguistic equality.
The Committee on Petitions is in favour of speeding up procedures to ensure that the Ombudsman’s annual report is considered more quickly, and it is also in favour of amending the Statute, provided that the amendments simply involve a qualitative expansion of the Ombudsman’s powers, without affecting the nature of his competences or the non-binding effect of all his decisions.
The culture of service to the citizen, which is primarily designed to ensure high-quality, transparent, approachable, swift and cooperative public administration, has been encouraged and strengthened at Community level by the combined efforts of the Committee on Petitions and the Ombudsman, and its first emergence can be traced back to the resolution of 6 September 2001, the date on which the European Parliament adopted the code of good administrative conduct proposed by the European Ombudsman.
Moreover, the Treaty of Maastricht produced a qualitative leap in European citizenship by offering all citizens the possibility of submitting petitions to a parliamentary body, which remains the sole arbitrator, or applying to a more specialised body which, while operating on an extrajudicial basis, follows a procedure which does not rule out parliamentary intervention in the event of the Community institution responsible for the instance of maladministration proving reluctant to cooperate.
I shall not talk about the statistics, as the Ombudsman has already talked about them and they are set out in the report. Cases of maladministration currently relate to lack of transparency, refusal of information, abuse of power, legal error and failure to ensure fulfilment of Treaty obligations, in particular by the Commission.
The Ombudsman’s decisions are not legally binding, but the safeguards that his work offers help to strengthen his powers of persuasion. He enjoys the active support of the Committee on Petitions, whose meetings he attended on four occasions in 2006, and cooperates with the network of European Ombudsmen, which should be improved and extended. Italy, for instance, does not as yet have a national Ombudsman.
It should be nevertheless be stressed that decisions with final effect should be reciprocally notified in real time in order to avoid conflicts of competence between the activities of the Ombudsman and those of the Committee on Petitions.
The report divides the decisions taken on completed inquiries in 2006 into various categories: lack of openness on the part of Community institutions and bodies (25% of inquiries), the role of the Commission as the guarantor of the Treaty in relation to procedures under Article 226, the management of contracts, remuneration and grants, and the recruitment and management of the staff of the Community institutions.
Procedures often end at the stage of critical remarks, which are a means of attempting to prevent the recurrence of cases of maladministration in future, in cases where it would be pointless to issue a recommendation. Various examples have been given by the Ombudsman, and can be read at leisure in the report.
In that respect, the Committee on Petitions invites the Ombudsman to carry out a detailed study of the practical impact of critical remarks made during inquiries in 2006. The fact that institutions have a code of good administrative conduct is often not enough to guarantee the creation of a genuine culture of service."@en1
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