Abstract
The Lisbon Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights acknowledge the right to “good administration” as a fundamental right of EU citizens. This has led to the reinterpretation of the mandate of the European Ombudsman, as it has actively sought to extend its competencies to promote good governance, instead of solely investigating possible acts of illegality. This proactive work has also involved own-initiative inquiries and strategic initiatives that have particularly targeted transparency of EU governance and conflicts of interest. This had led to institutional tensions and the politicization of the Ombudsman’s work and mandate through high-profile cases. As a supranational institution of accountability, the European Ombudsman is a unique interpretation of a global institutional model, showing both its potential and limitations. This is now reflected in the institutional debates about the mandate of the European Ombudsman.
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Notes
- 1.
The office has been held by three individuals, Jacob Söderman from Finland (1995–2003), Nikiforos Diamandouros from Greece (2003–2013) and Emily O’Reilly from Ireland (since 2013).
- 2.
Similar to the Ombudsman’s handling of complaints, the own-initiative inquiries are defined in Article 228 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (European Union 2012, Article 228). The current implementing provisions of the European Ombudsman state that the Ombudsman “shall conduct own-initiative inquiries for which the Ombudsman finds grounds” (European Ombudsman 2016d).
- 3.
Initially codified in Article 228 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the European Ombudsman was supposed to fight “maladministration” in the European institutional system. However, the adoption of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights defined the right to good administration as a fundamental right of EU citizens (art. 41).
- 4.
This standard diplomatic practice that also influences the publicity of EU documents handled by the national administrations (Erkkilä 2012, 191–99).
- 5.
However, the changes in the EUs multiannual financial frameworks (2007–2013 and 2014–2020) may also have influenced this development.
- 6.
In fact, the 2018 European Parliament’s PETI Committee’s proposal on changes to the Ombudsman statute included an amendment to the seat of the Ombudsman institution, proposing detaching it from the seat of the European Parliament and moving it to Brussels (European Parliament 2018, 6). The justification was that half of the staff is already there.
- 7.
There had also been a court case on one of the European Ombudsman’s recruitment processes concerning the acknowledgement of the qualifications of a candidate. The court ruled the case in favour of the European Ombudsman (Court of Justice of the European Union 2018).
- 8.
For instance, the Finnish Chancellor of Justice and the Finnish Parliamentary Ombudsman are both members. The German Committees on Petitions (Petitionsausschuss) on national and regional levels are also seen as having a similar function, and are hence accepted as members of the ENO.
- 9.
“The Ombudsman and their staff shall deal with requests for public access to documents in accordance with the conditions and limits provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. With regards to complaints regarding the right of public access to official documents, the Ombudsman shall, following due analysis and all necessary considerations, issue a binding decision concerning the release or else of said documents, which the concerned institution, agency or body shall deliver within the time frames provided for by Regulation 1049/2001” (European Parliament 2018, 17).
- 10.
On the other hand, it could be argued that it is often the link to the Parliament that lends the Ombudsman institutions their credibility in the eyes of the citizens (see, for example, the Finnish case in Chaps. 3 and 4). Indeed, the success of the European Ombudsman has also been linked to its position between parliamentary control and rule of law (Magnette 2003).
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Erkkilä, T. (2020). The European Ombudsman and Institutional Change. In: Ombudsman as a Global Institution. Public Sector Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32675-3_6
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