Strasbourg, 03/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - The institution of the European Ombudsman is celebrating its 10th birthday this autumn. The ombudsman service received its 20,000th complaint just a few days before the ombudsman visited the European Parliament for the traditional debate on his annual report. At the end of this debate, on 27 October, at the European Parliament adopted, virtually unanimously (426 in favour, three against and nine abstentions), the report by the Greek member Manolis Mavrommatis (EPP-ED), calling upon Nikiforos Diamandouros to develop his activities to allow the European Ombudsman to be increasingly perceived by the citizens as "the guardian of good administration". The Parliament reiterates the importance of a code of administrative best practice applying uniformly throughout the EU, and calls for all the institutions (particularly the Commission) and bodies of the EU which have not yet done so to adopt the European Code presented by the Ombudsman and approved by the EP. All institutions and bodies are also called upon to contribute towards its revision.
During the debate, Nikiforos Diamandouros pointed out that he had received 3,726 complaints in 2004, which marks an increase of 53% compared to 2003. This increase, he feels, shows not that administration is getting worse, but that the citizens are more aware of the institution of European ombudsman. He said that he had been in a position to help some 70% of those who made a complaint, either by opening up an investigation or by forwarding the complaint to a competent body.