Seven of Austria's nine provinces have mandated the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB) with monitoring the entire provincial and municipal administration. The AOB therefore submits an annual report to the National and the Federal Council on the Federal administration but also reports regularly to those seven provincial parliaments in which it also controls the provincial and municipal authorities.

On 22 June 2011, the Council of Ministers appointed Mr Dominique Baudis for a period of six years to the post of Défenseur des droits (Defender of Rights) of France. He takes office in the newly created Ombudsman institution in France, as successor of the Médiateur de la République.

On 19 May 2011, the Greek Parliament elected Ms Calliope Spanou as the new Greek Ombudsman. Ms Spanou who was Deputy Ombudsman for state - citizen relations since 2003, has been acting Ombudsman since September 2010, following the resignation of the former Greek Ombudsman, Mr Yorgos Kaminis, who was elected Mayor of Athens in November 2010.

Mr Lars Lindström took office on 1 June 2011 as Parliamentary Ombudsman of Sweden. He joins the team of  Ms Cecilia Nordenfelt, who took office as Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman of Sweden on 3 January 2011.

In accordance with the Fundamental Law of Hungary (accepted in April, 2011) the new Act on the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights will create a unified ombudsman system. The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights shall be nominated by the President of the Republic and elected by Parliament to carry out activities guaranteeing the protection of fundamental rights.

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has asked the European Commission to provide citizen-friendly information about the maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of foodstuffs in the EU before and after the Fukushima accident in Japan. The Ombudsman's action follows several complaints from citizens suggesting a lack of information concerning the changes made to the maximum levels. The Ombudsman has asked the Commission to reply by 30 June 2011.

Against the background of the intensified scientific cooperation and exchange of best practise models among members the I.O.I. General Secretariat is pleased to offer all I.O.I. Members the opportunity of free of charge electronic access to the following publication: Kucsko-Stadlmayer, Gabriele (ed.): “European Ombusman-Institutions. A comparative legal analysis regarding the multifaceted realisation of an idea”, Springer Wien New York, 2008.

On 14 June, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, who investigates complaints about government bodies that have not been resolved elsewhere, has launched a public consultation on whether complainants should have direct access to her service. Currently, members of the public need a referral from a Member of Parliament (MP) in order to bring their complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.