Ombudsman's main concern remains lack of transparency in EU administration
<http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/press/release.faces/en/3948/html.bookmark>
Press release no. 9/2009. 7 April 2009
By far the most common allegation examined by the European Ombudsman, P.
Nikiforos Diamandouros, in 2008 was lack of transparency in the EU
administration (36% of inquiries). This included the refusal of information
or documents. Other types of alleged maladministration concerned late
payments for EU projects, unfairness, abuse of power and discrimination.
At the presentation of his Annual Report 2008 in Brussels, Mr Diamandouros
said: "An accountable and transparent EU administration is key to building
citizens' trust in the EU. I therefore call on the European Commission to
amend its proposals to reform the legislation on public access to documents
in order to give the widest possible access to citizens and other
stakeholders."
In 2008, the Ombudsman received 3,406 complaints from EU citizens,
companies, NGOs and associations. In almost 80% of cases, the Ombudsman was
able to help the complainant by opening an inquiry into the case,
transferring it to a competent body, or giving advice on where to turn. The
Ombudsman closed a record number of inquiries in 2008 (355 inquiries). In
total, he handled over 7,700 complaints and information requests. After his
intervention, the EU administration settled bills, paid interest, released
documents, remedied injustices and put an end to discrimination.
The Ombudsman noted an increasing number of complaints from companies,
associations, NGOs, regional offices and other organisations in 2008 (26% of
inquiries were based on this type of complaints). Mr Diamandouros commented:
"I am working hard to reach out to stakeholders who are in contact with the
EU administration, for example, in the framework of EU projects. I am happy
to see that they increasingly use my services to help solve problems they
encounter."
Most of the inquiries in 2008 concerned the European Commission (66%),
followed by the European Parliament, the European Personnel Selection
Office, the Council and OLAF.
Germany produced the greatest number of complaints (16%), followed by Spain
(10%), Poland (8%) and France (7%). But relative to the size of their
population, most complaints came from Malta, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Belgium.
The Ombudsman was pleased to note that 36% of all investigations either were
settled by the institution complained against or were the result of a
friendly solution. In 44 cases, the Ombudsman issued a critical remark. One
special report was sent to the European Parliament concerning age
discrimination in the Commission.
The Ombudsman's Overview 2008 contains summaries of cases, background
information and statistics. It is available in all 23 official EU languages
at:
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/activities/annualreports.faces
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Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
www.markperkins.info
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