Strasbourg, 17/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 16 November in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted the report by German Christian Democrat MEP Andreas Schwab on the European Ombudsman's annual report and welcomed “the generally very constructive cooperation between the Ombudsman and the institutions and endorsed him in his role of 'external control mechanism and, in addition, as a valuable source of ongoing improvement to European administration'”. Parliament called on the Ombudsman to take the initiative and exercise his monitoring remit to guarantee transparency and the correct operation of all recruitment procedures, whether through the European staff selection office (EPSO) or carried out directly by a European institution or body, including the Ombudsman's own staffing department (212 votes for, 189 against, with 9 abstentions). (oj)