Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-11-12-Speech-4-012"
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"en.20091112.5.4-012"2
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"Mr President, first of all I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Paliadeli, for a very good report, and the Committee on Petitions for its enduring and important work. Of course, my thanks also go to the Ombudsman, Mr Diamandouros, for his thorough and complete annual report.
As the Ombudsman pointed out when he presented his annual report back in April this year, the crucial work is about building citizens’ trust in the EU. It will come as no surprise that I totally agree with that. I do not have much time at my disposal, so would like to concentrate on just a few important points.
The Paliadeli report offers a clear, exhaustive overview of the Ombudsman’s activities for the past year, and the new presentation for statistics and new layout makes this report accessible and easy to read. In 2008, the Commission contributed an opinion to the negotiations on the review of the Ombudsman’s Statute. We took an active part in the interinstitutional work to reach a satisfactory solution. We can all be proud of the result, which is the new Statute. I believe it is a result that citizens will benefit from.
Regarding complaints to the Ombudsman, we saw a 6% increase compared with 2007. As you know, 66% of the enquiries focused on the Commission. I do not see this as particularly strange. After all, the Commission is a fairly big institution with many more areas of responsibility likely to be targeted by complainants but, of course, the figures can and should be improved. That is also true of the fact that the most frequent claims for maladministration concern a lack of transparency – namely 36% of all enquiries. Such figures need to be brought down by all institutions.
A different, but related, subject is that of the treatment of information relating to business secrets and confidential information. Recently, we have seen some difficulties in relation to competition files. For this reason, we need to define modalities for the treatment of classified information, documents and other information covered by the obligation of professional secrecy. The Commission has been working hard on this issue and we will soon be able to submit a proposal to the Ombudsman.
Another positive development is the increase in the number of friendly solutions, as we have already heard. In 2008, 36% of all investigations were either settled by the institution complained against or resulted in a friendly solution. For the Commission, I am glad to say that the trend is definitely moving in the right direction. This shows both an awareness and an acknowledgement of the Ombudsman’s work, as well as respect for the complainants.
My second to last point is about the call made in the draft resolution for a common approach to a code of good administrative behaviour. As you know, the Commission has its own code, and that is broadly in line with the requirements of the Ombudsman. This important matter is best brought forward by first having a constructive interinstitutional debate and dialogue before presenting a legislative proposal.
My last point is about communication in practice. Here I want to commend the Ombudsman on his new website. Just like the annual report, it is thorough, complete and user-friendly. When it comes to developing an interactive handbook to help citizens identify the most appropriate forum for solving their problems, I firmly believe that this excellent new website tackles the problem. The work should not be duplicated, but be given enhanced visibility. From the Commission’s side, we have tried to contribute to this, and the new Europa website does exactly that. It enhances visibility and citizens can easily find the Ombudsman’s guide in a couple of clicks.
So, all in all, in 2008 we saw both progress and possibilities for further improvements by our institutions. I would again like to thank Mr Diamandouros for his achievements and important work and Mrs Paliadeli for her excellent report."@en1
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