By Martin Banks - 14th March 2007
The European ombudsman has called on German chancellor Angela Merkel to press for more openness in both EU and member state institutions.
Nikiforos Diamandouros will use a visit to Berlin next week to urge Germany, current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency, to intensify efforts to improve transparency in the EU.
The Strasbourg-based ombudsman’s annual report, due to be published on 3 May, will show that complaints about EU institutions has risen in Germany in the last 12 months.
About a quarter of the complaints in Germany concerned lack of transparency and a refusal to grant access to information. The next most popular type of complaint was about late payments for EU projects and contracts.
During his visit, from 19-21 March, Diamandouros will meet Merkel and the German president Horst Kohler.
He will also discuss his work with citizens and representatives of associations, NGOs and regional authorities.
In a letter to Merkel ahead of the visit, Diamandouros stressed the importance of a “citizen-centred administration” at both the European and national levels.
He writes that “shortcomings in the quality of services delivered by public administrations at European and member state levels limit the practical benefit that citizens derive from European cooperation.
“Promoting good administration therefore deserves a central place in an agenda focused on citizens,” adds Diamandouros, whose term in office runs until 2009.
A spokesperson for the ombudsman said the increase in complaints in Germany could partly be the result of an awareness-raising campaign the Greek official has conducted since he started in the job in 2003.
She said he wants Germany to use its six-month presidency of the EU to intensify efforts for more transparency in the EU.
He will also use the visit to inform German citizens about their right to complain when they encounter maladministration in EU institutions, she said.
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