A culture of service

“The number of complaints is maintained at record levels”, in continuity with previous years. “This development ought to be of concern to all those who have at heart better relations between citizens and EU institutions”, said NIKIFOROS DIAMANDOUROS , European Ombudsman, in presenting his annual Report for 2006 in Brussels in recent days. The role of the office he heads is to protect citizens in their relations with the Union’s administrations. COMPLAINTS, RECORD LEVELS. “In 2006 – says the Report drafted by the Greek jurist, who has held the post of EU Ombudsman for the last four years – 3830 complaints were presented to our office. This represents a slight drop (2%) over 2005, but it confirms a stabilization at the record level reached in 2004”. 57% of all the complaints received in 2006 were presented by electronic mail or through the form that can be downloaded from the website of our office. In 3619 cases, the complaints came from private citizens, 211 from associations or businesses. It is interesting to compare the national provenance of the complaints made to the Ombudsman: proportioning their number to the size of population of each State, three small countries top the list: Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus. After these three, the nations most prone to have recourse to the “citizens’ defence council” are Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, Finland, Ireland and Austria. At the bottom of the league table – those making the least complaints – are Lithuania, the UK, Italy and Denmark. “In almost 70% of cases the Ombudsman was able to help the complainant, by opening an investigation, transferring the complaint to the competent body, or by giving advice on the appropriate office to which to have recourse for an effective solution”. COMMISSION AND EPSO THE MAIN TARGETS. The Report – which now passes to the examination of the European Parliament – points out that “258 investigations following the presentation of a complaint were opened in the course of the year. In addition, the Ombudsman undertook nine investigations on his own initiative. In 2006 a total of 582 investigations were carried out”. As in previous years, most of the investigations, namely 387 (i.e. 66% of the total), involved the European Commission. “That is understandable – explains Nikiforos Diamandouros – in view of the fact that its decisions directly impact on citizens”. A further 74 investigations (13% of the total) were conducted on the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), 49 (8%) on the European Parliament and 11 (2%) on the European Council”. The cases of presumed maladministration “can be divided into various types: lack of transparency and refusal to provide information (25% of cases), injustice or abuse of power (19%), procedural shortcomings, unnecessary delays, discrimination and negligence”. SOME POSITIVE EXAMPLES. The thick document contains, for the first time, also a series of positive examples, “cases in which the institutions have taken steps to correct previous mistakes, for example by rapidly settling unpaid bills including interest for delays in payment”, “distributing documents”, or “putting an end to forms of discrimination”. But Diamandouros does not forego some wider reflections on how the EU works as an institution and on the consideration that EU offices show for European citizens. “The institutions and agencies of the EU – says Diamandouros – have often reacted in a positive way to the questions posed to them by the European Ombudsman”. The “good practices” cited in the Report are a confirmation of this. “The Commission for example has reviewed its own interpretation of the Directive on data protection in consideration of the fears raised by one citizen, while the Parliament has decided to abolish age limits for trainees”. These “are cases that deserve to be adopted as models for all the institutions of the Union. DELAYS AND REPRIMANDS. The Ombudsman continues in his Report: “Ever since I assumed the post of Ombudsman, I have devoted myself to promoting a culture of service within the EU administration. It is a culture that citizens deserve. The Charter of Fundamental Rights includes the right to good administration and we have the obligation to honour this promise”. The promptness with which the institutions react to complaints represents – according to Diamandouros – a fundamental indicator of their attention to the individual citizen. He then points out: “In spite of the progress made, a growth of the number of cases concluded with our critical observation, as well as an equally significant reduction of cases in which it was possible to reach an amicable solution, was also registered in 2006. The Ombudsman also observes a deplorable tendency for the institutions not to accept, or refuse to implement, the Ombudsman’s recommendations”. He insists on the need for proper account to be taken of the Ombudsman’s reprimands in Brussels, Strasbourg and in all the institutions of the Eu.