Brussels, 14/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 14 March the European ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, informed the European Parliament that he intends to retire on 1 October 2013 after more than ten years of service. He asked the Parliament to initiate the procedure for electing his successor.
“The time has come for me to look beyond my public life at the European Union level and to seek to resume my erstwhile role as a scholar and student of - rather than actor in - public life, and as an active private citizen”, he stated in a letter to President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz (Germany). He thanked the Parliament, and especially its petitions committee, for the trust, confidence and broad support that have been given to him in his role as guardian of good administration and in his efforts to promote accountability, transparency and a culture of service in the EU administration.
After a career as a professor of politics in the United States and Greece, Diamandouros became the first national ombudsman of Greece in 1998. In January 2013 the European Parliament elected him to the post of European ombudsman and it renewed his mandate in 2005 and 2010. (MB/transl.fl)