Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-11-12-Speech-4-025"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20091112.5.4-025"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Ombudsman, ladies and gentlemen, I value highly the activities of the European public defender of rights, but I have to say that I see three major problems in the activities of this office. The first problem is information. The wider public in the EU, in fact, does not know that such a thing as the European Ombudsman exists, let alone being able to guess what he does and the issues that they can bring to his attention. The facts are relatively clear. Almost 90% of the complaints submitted by my fellow countrymen from the Czech Republic did not fall within the remit of the European Ombudsman. The situation is no different for other Member States. The European Parliament is therefore proposing an extensive information campaign. I am not sure, however, whether we are trying to cure the right illness.
The second problem is costs. Every public institution comes at a price. With every new institution, there is an increase in the amount of bureaucracy which citizens must cope with and which they have to find their way through. It is therefore necessary to consider whether the taxpayers’ money invested has brought the desired results. Last year, my fellow countrymen made 66 complaints to the European public defender of rights out of almost 800 cases from the EU as a whole that fell within the remit of the European ombudsman. These problems were handled by 70 officials, costing the taxpayer EUR 9 million. Each case taken on therefore cost more than EUR 10 000. In my opinion, that is excessive.
The third problem is subsidiarity. As a former mayor, I was rather disturbed to read that one of the few cases taken on by the ombudsman involved the planning document for the small district of Břeclav in relation to high-speed communications. I consider this to be completely unnecessary as local problems should first be dealt with locally and not here in Brussels or Strasbourg. Ladies and gentlemen, if I were in charge of this institution, I would ensure that it acted sensibly, that it operated at the lowest possible cost, and especially that it did not abuse and artificially extend its powers and its bureaucracy. In this respect, I would like to wish the Ombudsman much success."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples