Of Celestial Motions and Gravitational Attractions: The Institutional Symbiosis between the European Ombudsman and the European Parliament

Summary:

This article considers the institutional cooperation between the European Ombudsman and the European Parliament in the legal and political space of the European Union.

That issue raises a number of  questions of both a doctrinal and an empirical nature. The following discussion is divided into three chronological phases. The first spans from the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in February 1992 until the coming into office of the first European Ombudsman in September 1995. The next period covers the Ombudsman’s first term from October 1995 until June 1999. The final stage is concerned with the entirety of the second and part of the third mandate of the European Ombudsman, namely from July 1999 until July 2008.

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