Activities of Marlene MIZZI related to 2014/2159(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Ombudsman's annual report 2013 (debate) MT
Ombudsman's annual report 2013 (A8-0058/2014 - Jarosław Wałęsa)
Amendments (24)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas Article 24 of the TFEU lays down the principle that every citizens of the Union may apply to the Ombudsman established in accordance with article 228;
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas article 228 TFEU empowers the European Ombudsman to receive complaints concerning instances of maladministration in the activities of the Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, with the exception of the Court of Justice of the European Union in its judicial role;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the main priority of the European Ombudsman is to ensure that citizens' rights are fully respected and the right to good administration reflects the highest standards as is expected by the EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the Union; whereas the European Ombudsman has a vital role in helping the EU institutions to become more open, effective and citizen-friendly with the aim of strengthening citizens' confidence in the EU;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas 23 245 citizens called on the Ombudsman’s services for help in 2013; whereas with respect to the above, 19 418 citizens received advice through the interactive guide on the Ombudsman’s website while 1 407 requests were for information; whereas 2 420 requests were registered as complaints (2 442 in 2012); whereas in 2013 the Ombudsman processed 2 354 complaints2 354 actions were taken by the Ombudsman on complaints received in 2013;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas it is important that the Ombudsman provides more detailed information on the complaints format, so that comparisons can be made throughout the years between complaints received in electronic format via the European Ombudsman´s interactive website and complaints received offline;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas the annual report for 2013 does not contain exact figures on the percentage of complaints which fell either within or outside the Ombudsman’s mandate; whereas it would be vital to include concrete numbers in all annual reports, so that comparisons between years can be made and trends and tendencies regarding the (in)admissibility of complaints can be easily discerned; whereas according to the report, of a typical 100 complaints received 68 fall outside the Ombudsman’s mandate and are either transferred to national or regional ombudsmen, forwarded to Parliament’s Committee on Petitions, or referred to other complaint-handling bodies such as the European Commission, SOLVIT, Your Europa Advice or the European Consumer Centres; whereas a follow-up procedure and information on complaints transferred to other institutions or bodies are needed to ensure that citizens' affairs are handled impartially, fairly and within a reasonable timeframe;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas of a typical 100 complaints received only 32 fall within the Ombudsman’'s mandate; whereas 17 of these do not lead to an inquiry (9 are deemed inadmissible and 8 are admissible but contain insufficient grounds for opening an inquiry); whereas of a typical 100 complaints received 15 complaints give rise to an inquiry; whereas 4 of these are settled during the inquiry, 4 lead to findings of no maladministration, 1 leads to a finding of maladministration and 6 are considered to contain no grounds for further inquiries;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P a (new)
Recital P a (new)
Pa. whereas a Special Report is the last resort of the European Ombudsman to deal with cases of maladministration by institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the Union; whereas the European Ombudsman should further explore her political powers and develop new instruments and mechanisms at her disposal;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas compliance with the Ombudsman’s proposals in 2012 was 80 %; whereas the Commission, which accounts for the highest proportion of the Ombudsman’s inquiries, had a compliance rate of 84 %; whereas the Ombudsman every year publishes a comprehensive account of how the EU institutions have responded to the Ombudsman’s proposals for improving EU administration; whereas the 20 % non-compliance rate of the Ombudsman´s proposals is a serious threat that could lead to further erosion of citizens' confidence in the effectiveness of the European Institutions;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital S
Recital S
S. whereas the Ombudsman’s budget in 2013 was EUR 9 731 371 and whereas the Ombudsman’s establishment plan contains 67 posts; whereas maintaining sufficient budget and human resources is essential to ensure the efficiency of the European Ombudsman´s services and rapid responses to citizens' complaints;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Approves the annual report for 2013 presented by the European Ombudsman and congratulates Emily O’Reilly on her first annual report as Ombudsman and welcomes her approach to keep up the positive working relations and cooperation with the Parliament , in particular with its Committee on Petitions; acknowledges that 2013 was a transition year and that the annual report for a large part covers the work of Professor Nikiforos Diamandouros, the outgoing European Ombudsman, and pays tribute to his legacy;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Gives its full support to the new Ombudsman’s stated ultimate goal, which is to help strengthen the structures and institutions of accountability and transparency at the European level, and to improve the quality of democracy in the European Union; reiterates the crucial role of the European Ombudsman in addressing citizens' concerns and helping bridge the wide gap between them and the EU institutions;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes that the digitalisation of the Ombudsman's services may lead to the exclusion of certain citizens who do not have access or cannot use the internet; calls on the European Ombudsman to pay special attention to the needs of citizens who cannot take full advantage of the benefits of the Ombudsman's online services, so that every citizen is ensured equal access and thus can make full use of the European Ombudsman's services;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Commends this new approach on the Ombudsman’s part, which was adopted to reflect her desire to make the Ombudsman institution as accessible and user-friendly as possible; encourages interested parties to read the in-depth investigations part entitled: Good administration in practice: the European Ombudsman’s decisions in 2013, and to take to heart the Ombudsman’s considerations and recommendations; deplores the fact that this publication is available in English only, and suggests that it be made available in all official languages of the European Union;suggests that it should be made available in all official languages of the European Union and the issue of translation expenses should not override the benefits of the citizens having access to this document
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Considers that transparency, openness, access to information, respect for the rights of citizens and high ethical standards are essential for building and maintaining trust between citizens and thecitizens trusts in the European Civil service and services of the EU institutions ; agrees with the Ombudsman that transparency makes it possible to scrutinise the activities of public authorities, evaluate their performance and call them to account; agrees equally that openness and public access to documents form an essential part of the system of institutional checks and balances; acknowledges the right of citizens to privacy and to protection of their personal data;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. UNotes that recommendations and critical remarks are not legally binding, nevertheless the EU institutions can use them as an opportunity to fix a problem, learn a lesson for the future and avoid reoccurrence of similar cases of maladministration; urges all institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union to cooperate fully with the Ombudsman and ensure full compliance with her recommendations and make full use of the critical remarks; recalls that the Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 41) includes the right to good administration as a fundamental right of citizens of the European Union;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes that a large majority of inquiries conducted by the Ombudsman over the past year (64.3 %) concerned the European Commission; considers that since the Commission is the institution whose decisions are most likely to directly affect citizens, civil society organisations and businesses, it is logical that it should be the main object of complaints; notes, however, that the share of complaints concerning the Commission has risen compared to 2012 when it was 52.7%; calls on the new Commission to quickly take steps and improve the current situation by reducing the number of complaints against the Commission
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Notes with concern that the percentage of complaints concerning EU agencies has almost doubled, from 12.5% in 2012 to 24% in 2013; suggests that the Ombudsman indicate whether this increase was the result of a greater general awareness of the public about complaints procedures or caused by other factors, such as perpetual non-compliance of EU agencies with the Ombudsman's recommendations from previous years; encourages the Ombudsman to monitor developments in the agencies and report back in good time; supports the Ombudsman’s plans to reach out to the various agencies with a view to emphasising the importance of good administration, good complaint handling, and a culture of service;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Supports the Ombudsman in her efforts to further reduce the response time frame for processing complaints, nevertheless 27% of inquiries were closed after more than 18 months; Encourages all EU institutions, bodies and agencies to improve their performance by deepening their commitment to good administration and to the principles of a culture of service to citizens, calls on them to assist the Ombudsman by speedily responding to her inquiries and working together with her to reduce the deadlines in the inquiry processmake further improvements to speed up the process and reduce the existing response time-frame and internal deadlines allowing citizens to exercise their rights in a timely and proper manner;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes that overall compliance with the Ombudsman’s recommendations stood at 80 % in 2012, slightly down from 82 % in 2011; supports the Ombudsman in her ambition to improve the compliance rate; urges the Commission, in particular, to make all efforts to improve its compliance rateis deeply concerned with the 20% non-compliance rate and calls on the Ombudsman to provide information on the motives and arguments of the institutions in those cases; supports the Ombudsman in her ambition to improve the compliance rate; urges the Commission, in particular, to make all efforts to improve its compliance rate; asks the Ombudsman to promptly inform the European Parliament on non-compliance cases and negative tendencies by individual EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the Union;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Notes that the Ombudsman found maladministration in 10.8 % of the inquiries closed in 2013 and that in 80 % of these cases she addressed critical remarks to the institution concerned; notes that in only 18 % of maladministration cases the Ombudsman’'s draft recommendations were fully or partly accepted by the institution; urges the institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the Union to respond and react within a reasonable timeframe to the critical remarks of the European Ombudsman and to make all the necessary efforts to improve their follow- up rate through the prompt implementation of the Ombudsman's recommendations and critical remarks;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Urges the Ombudsman to continue her efforts to improve communication channels and build upon the work done in the framework of the European Year of Citizens 2013 and to improve information towards the European citizens so that they are properly informed on the Ombudsman's services and sphere of responsibility;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Reiterates the importance of the European Citizens' Initiative as a new tool for enabling citizens' direct involvement in the decision-making process in preparing European legislation; regrets the fact that two-thirds of Europeans still feel that their voice does not count in the EU[1] and supports the creation of a ''Citizens' Initiative Centre" to provide a one-stop-shop for support and information on the existing mechanism; [1] European Commission, Eurobarometer 373: Europeans' engagement in Participatory Democracy, March 2013.
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Welcomes the decision of the Council of the European Union to publish the EU negotiating directives of the on-going TTIP negotiations; urges the European Ombudsman to call for a proactive transparent policy approach and information campaign to be adopted by the European institutions given the potential impact which the TTIP and other trade negotiations will have on the lives of the European citizens;