The European Mediator, Nikiforos Diamandouros, has asked the chairman of the European Convention, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, to permit public access to the documents of the Presidium of the Convention at the end of its work, which was in fact concluded on 10 July with the completion of the draft European Constitution presented in Rome on 18 July. The request is a follow up to a complaint by the Director of the Service of action for the European citizen (ECAS) which had been denied access while the work of the Convention was in progress, to avoid the risk of undue influences in the decision-making process. Now that the work has been completed, “there is no reason why these documents should not be made public”, the Convention replied. “It is up to the Convention concluded Diamandouros to take the necessary measures to ensure public access to the documents”. All the decisions of the European Mediator can be consulted on the site www.euro-ombudsman.eu.int, where it is also possible to download the annual Report of the European Mediator for 2002. Available in 11 languages, the Report provides an overall view of the work of the European Mediator over the last year and specifies the results obtained on behalf of European citizens.
