Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-11-25-Speech-4-047"
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"en.20101125.4.4-047"2
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"Madam President, first of all, I wish to thank very warmly all the Members who took the time to comment on my report. I want to thank them for their warm endorsement of the work of the Ombudsman. I derive a great deal of satisfaction, but also inspiration, from the kind of encouragement I receive from you, and I want to say to you openly that this kind of encouragement also increases the sense of responsibility that I feel is being put on my shoulders for carrying forward efforts to defend the rights of citizens.
Finally, as concerns the special report, again a clarification. The report was submitted because of the excessive delay. It was not – because I noted your regret – that it was released just after the Commission had released the documents. The two were unrelated. It was the great length of the response that prompted the report, and I was very happy to have had the response as I did. But again, you have adopted a position on that one.
Finally, I hope that there will be an effort to try and deal with the delays. What I will say about the delays, Commissioner, is that I expect the Commission to be able to abide by the rules concerning delays that it has itself adopted and is trying to abide by. I will abide by my deadlines in terms of dealing with this kind of situation. I think this will result in a better outcome.
I shall say two more things. I want to thank Mr Vlasák – I hope I am pronouncing the name correctly, because my Czech is non-existent – for his remarks, because it gives me the opportunity to say that I am actively looking forward to the possibility of making use of the facilities of the Eurobarometer in order to be able to find out more about what citizens think and feel about the Ombudsman and about the handling of complaints. I want to thank him for that.
I will do my best to see how the website can become user-friendly. Let me just assure him that we put it through very many pilot phases and very many target groups, and they all found it very user friendly. More than 46 000 people have used it so far, and they were guided to the right place the first time around. I want to assure him that this is what we are doing in order to be able to combat maladministration and that the interactive guide has very much helped reduce maladministration in the institutions as a response to his question.
Two more things. Ms Geringer de Oedenberg: it may not be easy to grasp that the vast majority of the complaints, whether to the European Ombudsman or the national ombudsman, do indeed deal with EU law. Therefore, we have the network of ombudsmen that I coordinate in order to be able to send the complaints to the right institution from the very beginning so as to avoid problems. Focusing only on what lies within the ombudsman’s mandate neglects the fact that the network ensures that the bulk of the complaints go to the right national regional ombudsman concerning EU law and that are dealt with there.
A comment on Mr Migalski’s question. I can assure him that the Ombudsman’s budget was approved by the Council without any change. We are very mindful of the constraints, but we are also encouraged by the fact that the major budgetary institution – not only Parliament – has approved it.
Regarding Mr Szegedi’s question, we agree emphatically that the courts of the Member States do not know EU law sufficiently well, and I make a special point in my visits to all the Member States, where I have been many times, of visiting the judiciary to be able to help them move in this particular direction.
Finally – and I will close with this – Mr Sógor also asked for the Ombudsman to be able to receive complaints concerning EU law submitted at national level. Regrettably, this is not in my mandate. I would be violating my mandate if I were to accept this task, and I would also be encroaching on the legal responsibilities and mandate of my colleagues in the Member States if I were to do it. I try to collaborate with them to do it, but I have no authority to receive complaints that concern the application of EU law in the Member States.
Madam President, I hope that I have responded to all the comments, and I would like once again to thank all Members for their words of encouragement, and also to congratulate you, Madam President, as the Commissioner has already done, for the important initiative aiming to approve a joint register for Parliament and the Commission. I am convinced that this will be a very important step forward.
I want to thank you very much for that – for your concerns in relation not only to the annual report, but also of course to the special report – and to thank the two rapporteurs who took the time to prepare excellent reports on my annual report and my special report.
Allow me, too, to thank Mrs Nedelcheva for her comments. I particularly want to say to you, Mrs Nedelcheva, that I have taken note of your comments, which have encouraged me to try to engage in dialogue with my national colleagues on the correct application of Community law.
I can assure you that next year, during the next meeting of national ombudsmen in Copenhagen, I will be able to give emphasis to exactly that point. You therefore have my assurance, and I thank you also for your comments concerning the importance of the interactive guide, which has also already been mentioned by your fellow Members from other parties.
Madam President, allow me now to focus on some of the remarks by Vice-President Šefčovič. Let me begin with a general remark. I wish to make it clear to this Chamber that Mr Šefčovič has gone out of his way to try and work very closely with the Ombudsman, and I am very grateful to him for what he has done so far.
I also wish to make it clear to this Chamber that Mr Šefčovič, upon assuming his duties, in effect – these are my words – reversed the position of his predecessor and publicly acknowledged that, when it came to the Porsche situation, the Commission’s response had been unsatisfactory and regrettable. Therefore, I wish to draw a distinction between the person of the Commissioner and the Commission’s institutional response to this issue, which resulted in my needing – for the first time in 15 years – to feel constrained to submit a report to this body concerning that behaviour. It behoves me to make this distinction concerning the handling of the situation, and again to thank Mr Šefčovič for his efforts in trying to move forward and to be constructive in this area.
Having said that, let me say a few more things. Commissioner, I consider the 2002 communication concerning citizens of fundamental importance for the application of good administration of the Union. If, therefore, the Commission is considering changing this communication, I should very much hope that the Commission will see to it that it consults both the Ombudsman and the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament before actually changing what is an instrument of fundamental importance for the citizens.
We are very much in agreement – and I am glad that you in fact also mentioned this – that the courts are the highest and the only authority which can take decisions on an authoritative interpretation of the law. I am very glad that the Commission also acknowledges that. In terms of draft recommendations, let me just make a small clarification, Commissioner.
A draft recommendation constitutes a finding of maladministration by the Ombudsman. That does not prevent the institution involved from responding to this particular draft recommendation and rectifying the matter, and I will take that into consideration for closing the case. Therefore, a press release at the point of having found an instance of maladministration is in no way intended to pre-empt or to prevent an institution from being able to respond, and I want you to have my assurance personally on that."@en1
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