BackIn May 2017, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, presented the Ombudsman’s Annual Report 2016. This year showed again how the work of an ombudsman can have a positive effect over time on the quality of the EU administration, in line with the strategy of the European Ombudsman to increase the impact, relevance and visibility of the office.
By conducting proactive strategic inquiries, the Ombudsman’s office was able to help raise the already high transparency and administrative standards of EU public bodies further still. The Ombudsman worked with the European Commission and European Parliament on reviewing the expert groups that advise the Commission on policy, engaged with the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker on the ethics of former Commissioners, and with the President of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, on the Eurogroup’s transparency. The Ombudsmna’s office also made recommendations to the Commission on the authorisation of pesticides and to the Commission, Council and Parliament on how to improve the transparency of trilogues.
At the end of the year, the Award for Good Administration was launched in order to recognise excellence in EU public administration and the dedicated work of so many European civil servants working to improve the lives of European citizens.
The core work of the European Ombudsman remains helping individuals when they encounter problems with EU public administration and their concerns make up the vast majority of the hundreds of complaints the office deals with every year. Concerns about transparency in the EU administration accounted for the biggest proportion of the Ombudsman's cases (29.6%) in 2016.
In 2016, the annual conference of the European Network of Ombudsmen was also held in Brussels, which built on the successful cooperation on issues including migration, lobbying transparency and the rule of law. The European Commission furthermore committed to working more effectively with the Network.
Launching her Annual Report, the European Ombudsman has also published practical advice for EU officials on interacting with interest representatives.
The Dos and Don’ts list will help ensure that public officials do not inadvertently breach ethical norms. It should also help the interest representatives by clarifying what is appropriate thereby making sure that the interactions are positive and open for everyone involved.
Source: European Ombudsman, European Union
