The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, and the Spanish government signed an agreement in Brussels today to allow citizens to complain to the European Ombudsman in any of the co-official languages in Spain (Catalan/Valencian, Galician and Basque). In signing the agreement, the Ombudsman aligns his practice with the June 2005 conclusions of the Council of the EU providing for the use of these languages to facilitate Spanish citizens’ communications with EU institutions.

According to the agreement, a translation body, which will be set up by the Spanish government, will be responsible for translating complaints submitted in these languages. In turn, it will translate the Ombudsman's decisions from Spanish/Castilian into the language of the complainant.

When the translation body is set up by the Spanish authorities and consequently the agreement becomes effective, information on how to complain in these languages will be available via the following link on the Ombudsman's website: