Brussels, 25/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Ombudsman, Jacob Söderman, presented his annual report for 2002 to the European Parliament's Committee on Petitions on Monday. The report gives an overview of the European Ombudsman's office's activity for 2002. Apart from pressure brought to bear on the European Institutions with regard to application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Ombudsman in 2002 obtained the abolition of age limits in recruitment procedures within the European Institutions. The Commission has taken measures against discrimination on the basis of gender, and progress has been made in establishing principles of compensation for citizens in the form of damages and interest, if the administration fails to fulfil its obligations within the agreed time.
The Ombudsman received 2211 complaints in 2002, an increase of 18% on 2001 (1874). The number of admissible complaints rose by 6%, from 313 in 2001 to 331 in 2002. The Ombudsman opened 222 inquiries on the basis of these complaints (8% more than in 2001), and two own-initiative inquiries. The complaints originate firstly in Spain (16% of the total), followed by Germany (14%), Belgium (10%) and France (10%). Over a quarter of complaints (66) which gave rise to a complaint were resolved by the institutions, which took on board 10 draft recommendations from the Ombudsman. In 128 cases, the Ombudsman concluded that faulty administration was not to blame. The Ombudsman's office advised over 1,200 citizens, whose complaints were wrongly sent there, on which authority to approach. It also answered 3717 requests for information by e-mail, up almost 60% on the previous year. On 31 December 2002, the number of complaints delayed by over a year was 4, compared with 22 on 31 December 2001.
In the preface to his last annual report, Jacob Söderman stressed that there is a long way to go in building a Europe of the citizens: "I used to compare the EU to a fortress which needed to be opened and rebuilt. Many reforms have been carried out in that fortress. We can see a bit of light through the windows, but we are still waiting for the fortress to open up completely and become a modern administration. Why? I do not feel that this lack of openness is in any way due to lack of goodwill, but rather to the weight of old traditions and ways of working. I only hope that the day will come when all the major players of the European Union will really feel that an open administration is a good thing. The citizens have every right to know, and they should know, what is being done in their name; only then will we truly gain their confidence".
Since he took up office as Ombudsman of the European Union in September 1995, Mr Söderman has handled almost 12,000 complaints and opened over 1500 inquiries. He will be retiring on 31 March 2003. Nikiforos Diamandourous will take over from him on that date.