"In 2005, an overall number of 3,920 reports were submitted to the Mediator, which is 5% more than in 2004"; most of them "complain of poor transparency in the activity of the EU institutions". Nikiforos Diamandouros works as an Ombudsman, i.e. a EU public defender. The Greek jurist, whose institution is based in Strasbourg, presented today the 2005 Report on the activity carried out "to defend the citizens, the companies, the associations from the work of the EU institutions". In 75% of the cases, "the Mediator did help the plaintiffs by opening investigations, referring the reports to the authorities concerned or supplying advice on who to contact for a prompt and effective settlement of the problem". The investigations directly carried out last year amounted to 627, plus a number of "external" activities concerning relations with the other institutions of the 25 EU member states, national or regional public defenders as well as visits to the member states. On quite a lot of occasions (conferences, meetings, visits to institutions or schools), Diamandouros had to run across Europe to spread the message that a citizen can protect his rights provided he is aware "of such rights and how to defend them". (to be continued)
