"The main types of alleged poor government", as reported to the EU Mediator in 2005, were: "Lack of transparency and refusal to supply information (188 cases); unfairness or abuse of power (132); discrimination (103); procedural flaws (78); avoidable delays (73)". In addition, the Mediator "received 3,269 individual enquiries by email, compared to about 3,200 in 2004 and 2,000 in 2003". The document drawn up by Nikiforos Diamandouros includes more general considerations on the current phase the EU is going through. "The EU is going through a phase of assessment. The French and Dutch citizens voted against the ratification of the Constitution, the turnout of voters at the EU election keeps decreasing and the EU is still fighting against the common opinion of it being a distant bureaucracy, built up by a political elite". "The establishment of the Mediator reads on the 2005 Report aimed at bringing the EU closer to its citizens and giving the EU administration a human face". A "key aspect of this figure is that the Mediator is a physical person, who personally talks to the private citizens who contact him, reviews their cases and tries to settle their cases. In this way, the Mediator becomes "a key element to build confidence between citizens and institutions".
