European Ombudsman: redress and control at Union level

Abstract:

Conducted against the background of five ideal ombudsman models, this penetrating analysis of the European Ombudsman investigates how the Ombudsman functions in practice and its potential for future development. The author asks, that given the type of activities the Community performs, is a redress Ombudsman in fact what the Community needs?

The analysis reveals how an appropriately-designed ombudsman could provide such welcome improvements in Community governance as the following: more adequate external supervision of the Commission's administration; enforced Parliamentary supervision of executive rule-making by the Commission; and more regulation and supervision of the Committees involved in rule-making.

The volume is split into two main parts. The first four chapters constitute the theoretical background for the study of the European Ombudsman whereas chapters five to eight discuss the workings of the European Ombudsman in detail, concentrating on the years 1996-1998. These are the operational years of the first mandate of the first incumbent of the European Ombudsman Office and for which Annual Reports were available at the time of writing. In the Evaluation which closes the book, the future potential of the Ombudsman is considered.

Number 24 in Kluwer's European Monographs Series, this book will prove invaluable to policy makers, lawyers and academics in Europe and elsewhere as a reasoned and enlightened study of the best use of a highly promising emerging institution of governance.