Activities of Julia REDA related to 2014/2159(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman 2013 PDF (174 KB) DOC (103 KB)
Amendments (14)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas this definition does not limit maladministration to cases where the rule or principle that is being violated is legally binding; whereas the principles of good administration go further than the law,; whereas according to the first European Ombudsman "maladministration occurs when a public body fails to act in accordance with a rule or principle which is binding upon it"; whereas this requires institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union not only to respect their legal obligations but also to be service-minded and to ensure that members of the public are properly treated and fully enjoy their rights;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the notion of good administration should be broadened to better administration, understood as an on-going continuous improvement process;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
P. whereas 80 % (40 cases) of inquiries where maladministration was found were closed with critical remarks addressed to the institution concerned and 18 % (9 cases) were closed with draft recommendations, which were either fully or partially accepted by the institution; whereas in one case (2 %) the Ombudsman drafted a Special Report entitled ‘Special Report of the European Ombudsman in own-initiative inquiry OI/5/2012/BEH- MHZ concerning Frontex’; whereas the amount of Special Reports submitted by the EU Ombudsman averages one a year;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P a (new)
Recital P a (new)
Pa. whereas this Special Report submitted to the Parliament was motivated by a partially negative response given by the concerned agency concerning the obligations of FRONTEX in regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, in particular the absence of an appeals mechanism for asylum-seekers;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital S a (new)
Recital S a (new)
Sa. whereas Ms O'Reilly has been the first woman elected for the position of European Ombudsman;
Amendment 26 #
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, in order to promote good administration for every EU citizen and resident, and to improve the quality of democracy in the European Union;
Amendment 33 #
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; deploregrets the fact that this publication is available in English only, and suggests that it be made available in allat least in the official working languages of the European Union;
Amendment 36 #
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 residents, and the 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 38 #
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 the institutions; agrees with the Ombudsman that transparency is a cornerstone of an advanced democracy, in the sense that it 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 44 #
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%; considers that the involvement of the Commission in opaque entities such as the Troika does not go in the sense of promoting transparency and accountability within the Union, and neither respecting the principle of subsidiarity;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Commits itself to finally draft an own-initiative report on the Special Report on FRONTEX submitted by the Ombudsman in November 2013, following the usual practice in previous reports of this nature, which lies in the spirit of the rule 220(2);
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Recalls that its Committee on Petitions is a full member of both networks mentioned above; notes that in 2013 the Ombudsman referred 51 complaints to the Committee; considers that given the parallel and sometimes complementary work that the Committee on Petitions does in ensuring that EU legislation is duly implemented at every level of administration, more resources should be devoted to this committee, in analogy of those of the EU Ombudsman;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Welcomes a number of important investigations which the Ombudsman has launched, such as the inquiries concerning transparency in the TTIP negotiations, whistleblowing in the EU institutions, transparency in Commission expert groups, ‘revolving door’ cases, fundamental rights in cohesion policy, and the European Citizens’ Initiative; looks forward to the findings of these inquiries; considers that closely observing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations would strengthen the role of the Ombudsman as guardian of EU transparency; commits to follow up particularly on the outcomes of the consultation on TTIP transparency which are drawn to the attention of the Parliament;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Suggests that a discussion be held at the appropriate inter-institutional level to reflect on whether the title for the Ombudsman post should continue to be 'Ombudsman' regardless of the gender of the person in charge, whether it should be renamed to 'Ombudswoman' in case of a female, or whether a more gender-neutral term such as 'Ombudsperson' should be adopted;