Strasbourg, 23/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - Following up the recommendations presented by European Ombudsman Jacob Söderman, the Council agreed to provide access to the agendas of the Senior Level Group and the EU-US Task Force, as the non-governmental organisation, Statewatch, had requested. In his recommendations, the Ombudsman had mainly rejected the Council's argument whereby this access would not have been possible in so far as the documents in question were held by a "different" institution, namely the Council's Secretariat General. On this, see also EUROPE of 15 March, p.17).
Furthermore, further to our article on the Bösch Report (see EUROPE of 21 July, p.11), the Ombudsman's services have pointed out that the average duration for processing complaints filed with the Ombudsman was in fact 316 days in 2000 and 329 days in 1999 (and not 282 days as information from the EP had said). These figures show a reduction in the average time for processing complaints, which in no way prevents the Parliament from hoping that a still further effort will be made in this connection.