Citizens deserve greater openness from the EU

At the start of his second five-year term as European ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros says that he will push forward the frontiers of more transparency in the EU.

The European Union’s re-elected ombudsman warned the European Commission and the European Parliament this week that he is going to seek greater openness from them, in order to better serve European citizens.

Nikiforos Diamandouros, who was given another five-year term by the Parliament in January, says he now has a mandate to “push forward the frontiers of greater transparency and of greater administrative accountability.”

Charter of Fundamental Rights

In the wake of the Lisbon treaty, which has bolstered citizens’ rights, Diamandouros is preparing for an increased caseload of complaints, exceeding the 3,000-4,000 he already receives per year. The Charter of Fundamental Rights now allows citizens to take their complaints to the ombudsman if the EU institutions fail to resolve the problem.

While Diamondouros’s focus will remain mostly on the Commission, he said he would also aim to look more closely at the Parliament and the EU’s agencies. His attack on secretive MEP allowances in 2008 ruffled many feathers, but led to reforms to allow Europeans to see more clearly how MEPs spend taxpayers’ money.

Access to documents

Most recently, he last week accused the Commission of maladministration over its failure to respond to his recommendation to release letters under EU access to documents rules. The rebuke induced the Commission to comply. The issue reflects increased demands on the Commission over transparency, and notably over access to documents – demands that, Diamandouros predicts, will grow as more people become aware of their widened rights.

“The important point is to ensure that we don’t have any retrogression in the defence of the right of access. My feeling is that this is what ought to be clearly fought for,” he said.

Fact File

Guiding citizens

Diamandouros’ website has been revamped so as to give “clear, succinct, and easy-to-understand information on what the European ombudsman can do for you”. It offers an overview of what the ombudsman has achieved to date and explains how to lodge a complaint.
The website also contains an interactive guide to help citizens, businesses, and other organisations identify the most appropriate body to turn to with complaints.
Within the EU institutions, it directs visitors to the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament, the Solvit network for dealing with cross-border problems, the Citizens Signpost Service for problems with mobility in the European Economic Area, the European Consumer Centres Network for advice or for help with problems affecting cross-border shopping, and the Commission as the guardian of the application of EU law. It also provides links to national and regional ombudsmen throughout Europe.
In 2009 – the first year of operation for this service – more than 26,000 people sought and received advice from the ombudsman through this guide.

Diamandouros also plans to bring further efficiencies to his office. Already the time spent deliberating cases has been cut from 18 months to nine. “We have been able to cut down the length of decisions, very often up to 70 pages of decisions cut down to 15 pages,” said Diamandouros. “We are investing time to serve citizens by making things plainer, more intelligible.” He also intends to make his work easier to understand through his website and through the use of plain, jargon-free language in his recommendations.

The 67-year-old Greek said he is also keen to encourage a younger generation to track what the EU is doing and plans to explore how to use social networking sites without any compromise of the ombudsman’s reputation as a neutral arbiter.

“Transparency is a big issue, but transparency is not an end in itself. It’s transparency to serve democracy, to serve the citizens. That’s what we are all about,” he said.