The European Ombudsman

The European Ombudsman can be consulted by any individual or entity that is resident in the European Union and who consider themselves to be a victim of an act of “bad administration” by any community institution or organ.

Any citizen of a member state, as a citizen of the said state or as a European citizen, has the benefit of a series of rights amongst which is the right to appeal to the European Ombudsman in the case that they consider that they have been a victim of “bad administration” by the various organs of the European Community.

The figure of the European Ombudsman was created by the 1992 Treaty of the European Union and its functions and Statute were constituted by a decision of the European Parliament dated 9th march 1994.

The Ombudsman is named after every election of Parliament and for the its legislative period, and has a renewable mandate. He or she can be demoted by the Court of Justice upon the request of Parliament if he/she does not fulfil the necessary conditions for the exercise of his/her functions or if he/she commits a serious offence.

With regard to the conditions that he/she must fulfil, these are the following;

- Be able to exercise in his/her country the highest judicial functions or possess an experience or competence that are clearly sufficient to fulfil the functions of an Ombudsman.

- Offer a total guarantee of independence.

- Have the support of a minimum number of European members of Parliament that belong to at least two different member states.

At the same time, the Ombudsman has the following obligations:

- Exercise his/here functions with total independence.

- To neither accept or ask for instructions from any institution in the carrying out of his/her functions.

- Abstain from any act that would be incompatible with his/her functions.

- To not exercise any other political, administrative or professional activity whether this be remunerated or not.

The main functions of the Ombudsman are as follows;

The European Ombudsman looks into those cases of a “bad administration” of the various institutions or organs of the European Community. By a so called “bad administration” we can understand the body of deficient measures that could derive from the application of an inadequate rule such as, for example,

- Administrative Irregularities.

- Administrative Omissions or abuses or power.

- Negligence.

- Illegal procedures.

- Comparative injustices.

- Discrimination.

- Undue Delays.

- Lack of Information or a refusal to provide information.

However, one has to bear in mind that the European Ombudsman is not competent to deal with claims with regard to the local or national administrations, matters that are pending before a Court or Court rulings as well as matters that have not been previously dealt with by the administration in question or matters relating to the working relationship between institutions and community organs and their civil servants or agents.

How can one lodge a petition before the European Ombudsman?

The citizens of the European Union can present a claim before the Ombudsman directly or through a Member of Parliament by means of a simple letter in which all the information that has given rise to the claim is provided.

The claims, as we have said, must refer to cases of bad administration by institutions or organs of the European Union and can never refer to matters that have been dealt with by a court or that is actually being considered by a court. The claim must be presented within a period of two years from moment in which the petitioner has knowledge of the relevant facts.

The actual claim can be made in any of the eleven official languages of the Union with a clear expression of which organ or institution it is directed against and the reason due to which the claim is being made. Both the Ombudsman and the personnel that work under him/her are bound not to reveal any information that they become aware of during the course of their investigations.

How does the Ombudsman work?

If the claim is admitted, the Ombudsman will look for a solution with the institution in question and if an agreement could not be reached, he/she must prepare a project of recommendations which will then be sent to the organ in question which will then be obliged to make a decision within a period of three months. Once this procedure has been concluded, the Ombudsman will inform the petitioner of the result of the investigation, of the report emitted by the organ or institution in question and his/her own recommendations with regard to the actions that the petitioner can then initiate.

This article has been reproduced in it's entirety courtesy of Fernando Aliaga, Legal & Fiscal Services, Javea.