Ombudsman turns up the heat

Date: 18/12/1997

By Leyla Linton

THIS year has seen the EU Ombudsman really getting into his stride, holding the European Commission to account and standing up for the rights of Union citizens.

Jacob Söderman, who is tasked with investigating complaints from individuals of maladministration within the EU institutions, also launched several 'own initiative' inquiries during the year.

While there were no dramatic showdowns between the laconic Söderman and the institutions, the Finn managed to introduce some of the openness for which his native country is famous. He may well also have begun the process of changing fundamental attitudes, within the Commission in particular.

Critics had initially been unimpressed with the Ombudsman's softly-softly approach when he began work in 1995, but this year saw a flurry of inquiries.

One of his biggest victories was in forcing the Council of Ministers to perform a U-turn in June and agree to cooperate with him in an investigation into public access to documents.

The European Parliament was also forced to adopt formal rules in July on access to documents after its lack of clear guidelines was criticised by Söderman.

In the same month, he also attacked age limits on recruitment set by the EU institutions, prompting Personnel Commissioner Erkki Liikanen to announce that he would review the age ceiling.

Then, in November, the Ombudsman took the Commission to task over the way it meddled in its officials' freedom of expression, pointing out that staff regulations stopping officials from speaking out should not conflict with the fundamental right to freedom of expression in Community law or the European Convention on Human Rights.

Söderman also launched an own-initiative inquiry into the way the Commission handles complaints about breaches of EU law, in response to a string of protests from citizens that the institution did not keep them informed and gave in to political pressure from national governments not to take action.

In his initial letter to Commission President Jacques Santer, the Ombudsman said complainants felt they had been treated in an "arrogant and high-handed" way. But after a six-month investigation, he concluded the Commission's answers to his requests for information about the system were "constructive and service-minded and showed no evidence of maladministration".

Some pressure groups were disappointed with Söderman's verdict, but he did at least extract a promise from the Commission that in future it would inform complainants in advance of its plans to close cases.

The Ombudsman's last inquiry of 1997 was into Commission recruitment procedures, following complaints from candidates unhappy with the way their applications had been handled. Söderman warned Santer that EU citizens might find the system "incomprehensible in a democratic and accountable administration". The Commission president has until the end of February to respond.

Part of the European Voice 'Review of the Year'.