Mr President, distinguished Members of the Committee!

I would first like to express my gratitude to you, Mr President for inviting me to present to you and to the Committee, the European Ombudsman's Annual Report for 2002. I am happy that we managed to distribute the report in all official languages in due time, so that you have had the opportunity to study it. I have also met the draftsman assigned by the Committee to this report, Lord STOCKTON, and expressed the readiness of the Ombudsman's office to give him any further information needed.

2002 was the busiest year in the Office so far. The number of new complaints exceeded two thousand for the first time. Still, we managed to deal promptly with the cases, as only eight open cases were older than one year on 31 December 2002. Today, only three open cases are more than one year old. Two are special reports that are before you here in the Committee and one is a proposed friendly solution where the Commission is still dealing with the matter. So the backlog of cases which your Committee pointed out in earlier reports is now taken care of. The Ombudsman's office is also committed to try to maintain this situation whenever possible.

Public relations

2002 was also a busy year for public relations. On average, we put out a press release every ten days. In June, we sent the Ombudsman's brochure to around 10,000 bodies active in EU affairs. In December, 20,000 copies of the Ombudsman's Guide for Citizens in 11 languages were sent to key EU information centres. Furthermore, as you can see from the Annual Report, my staff and I have presented the Ombudsman's work at numerous seminars and meetings and I have visited many Member States with that purpose. We also reach out to the citizens through an active website, with more links to it than any other ombudsman’s website in the EU. We have also added information to the website in the languages of the future member states.

During the year, we organised meetings for parliamentary assistants to make it easier for them to inform citizens about the remedies available to deal with grievances against the EU administration. I truly believe that the Members of Parliament and their assistants play an important role when informing the European citizens of their rights and how to achieve them when disputes occur.

The right to complain to the European Ombudsman is the second best-known right of citizenship, after the right to work in another Member State. The Flash Eurobarometer poll in autumn 2002 showed that 87% of those questioned knew of their right to complain to the European Ombudsman. The efforts to publicise the office therefore seem to have had a positive effect.

Advice from the European Parliament

During 2002, we also tried to observe and follow the advice given to us by Parliament following proposals of this Committee. As regards prompt complaint-dealing and better informing citizens, I already have referred to the results. One useful advice mentioned in the Thors, Bösch and Wyn reports is the need to follow up the Ombudsman’s critical remarks.

In March and April 2002, we informed all the institutions and bodies that we would, in future, ask them to inform us how they have taken critical remarks into account in their activities. We also informed them that Parliament had called on the Ombudsman to apply the Code of Good Administrative Behaviour in examining whether there is maladministration. At the beginning of this year, we reviewed the position as regards critical remarks made in 2002 and asked the Commission for more information on certain cases. The outcome of this initiative will be ready this year and put before your Committee in the next Annual Report.

As requested in the Bösch report, a popular overview of the achievements of the Ombudsman's work has been published in the form of a Guide for Citizens. As already mentioned, the Guide was widely distributed during 2002 and copies are also available here today. The Guide is also published on the website.

The network and the new Member States

The Committee on Petitions has on many occasions underlined the importance of involving ombudsmen and similar bodies from the future Member States in the existing network of co-operation. In order to promote better knowledge of Community law and of ombudsman practices in the EU, my office has organised two seminars for ombudsmen and similar bodies to which ombudsmen from all 10 countries negotiating entry to the EU were invited. A third seminar is foreseen in Warsaw, Poland on 30 May - 1 June this year.

All the ombudsmen and similar bodies in the candidate states take part in the Internet co-operation with daily electronic news and a forum for exchanging views. The recently published liaison letter is also distributed to them. They have also been offered the possibility to contribute to it like all ombudsman institutions and petition committees within the Union. They will soon be invited to nominate liaison officers, who could attend a seminar to be organised in Strasbourg in autumn 2003.

Achievements during the year

Most of the main achievements during the year are related to promoting the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights within the EU institutions. As the Presidents of the Parliament, Commission and the Council proclaimed the Charter in Nice to the European citizens, I took the view that it would be maladministration if the administration of these institutions did not follow the Charter in their activities. The Commission’s and the Parliament’s administration have respected the Charter by finally abolishing age limits in recruitment. The Commission abolished a rule that had led to indirect sex discrimination.

Article 41 of the Charter on the right to good administration has surely been taken into account in cases concerning procedures. The best step forward would, of course, be for the Commission to propose a general administrative law for the Union institutions and bodies, based on the Code already adopted by Parliament in September 2001. Parliament and this Committee, encouraged by the father of the Code Roy PERRY, have argued for such a law on many occasions.

Despite these positive achievements, the Charter is not yet fully respected in the EU administration. For example, my initiative to guarantee freedom of speech for officials by removing prior censorship of publications has not been followed in drafting the new Staff Regulations. It is also rather troubling that the Council’s administration refuses to acknowledge that it should respect the Charter of fundamental rights, which was proclaimed by the Council presidency in December 2000, as the administration considers the Charter to be merely a “political declaration” without binding effect.

Acting as the Guardian of the Treaty

During the year, the Commission addressed a Communication on its activities as the Guardian of the Treaty to the European Parliament and the Ombudsman. The Communication is a positive development towards better safeguards for complainants in the Article 226 procedure and should be acknowledged as such. From the point of view of the complainants, however, more progress could still be expected.

I think the administrative procedure could be much more open, as foreseen in Article 41 of the Nice Charter on the right to good administration. The time has also come to recognise the complainant as a party in the administrative procedure itself, even if this does not mean access to the Court of Justice in these cases. To promote better knowledge of Community law, the Commission’s reasoned opinions should, as a rule, be published. Publicity at this stage might in fact lead to a prompt and successful solution in many cases.

I also think that it would be good to look into the possibility for the existing network of ombudsmen and petitions committees in the Member States to take over the handling of some Article 226 complaints about public administration. It would be for the Commission to sort out which cases might best be dealt with in this way and to ask for a report on the outcome in due time.

The Convention on the future of the European Union

As an observer at the European Convention, I have tried to promote that the right to petition the European Parliament and the right to complain to the Ombudsman should be enshrined in the main part of the future Constitution. I have also proposed that all citizens’ remedies under Community law should be mentioned in the Constitution, as well as the principles of openness and good administration and that the EU should have the capacity to adhere to any international human rights treaty. Furthermore, the Charter of Fundamental Rights should be binding within the scope of EU law.

Today it seems that, largely thanks to Commissioner António VITORINO’s skill, there will be progress on fundamental rights, but the outcome on the other issues is unclear, as they have not yet been debated. I do hope that this Committee and the European Parliament are active in promoting these issues, as they are important for the citizens and their faith in the EU administration.

 

Mr President!

In my very first Annual Report, for the year 1995, I said that “the right to petition the Parliament and the right to apply to the Ombudsman together constitute a unique possibility to promote the rights of the European citizens.”

I am still convinced of this today, as I present my last report, 7 years and 7 months later. In my speech before the Committee on 8 April 2002, I indicated how this co-operation could be further developed to the benefit of the European citizens without hampering the authority and independence of either body. I do hope that there will be possibilities to discuss this matter with my successor in due time.

As this is my last occasion before this Committee I would like to thank you Mr President Vitaliano GEMELLI, all the Vice Presidents and the Members of the Committee on Petitions as well as the head of the secretariat Mr Enrico BOARETTO and his staff for all the good co-operation and good advice during the years.

I wish you all well in your important work for the European citizens.

Thank you for your attention.