Brussels, 20/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's petitions Committee adopted the report by the Austrian Socialist Herbert Bosch, which insists over the need for better information for citizens with regards to the role of the European Ombudsman and closer cooperation between the latter and the Petitions Committee. This report, which is based on the annual activity report by the European Ombudsman for 2000 (see EUROPE of 18 April, p.11) invites the Ombudsman to shorten the time taken to process complaints (316 days in 2000 against 282 in 1999). The Petitions Committee also invites the Ombudsman to present a special report on the confidentiality of documents held by the Community authorities. It should also encourage the candidate countries to create an ombudsman to fight against cases of mismanagement. To this day, 11 candidate countries have already provided themselves with an institution of this kind, but Bulgaria and Slovakia remain without one.