mr president first of all i would like to thank the rapporteur mrs paliadeli for a very good report and the committee on petitions for its enduring and important work
of course my thanks also go to the ombudsman mr diamandouros for his thorough and complete annual report
as the ombudsman pointed out when he presented his annual report back in april this year the crucial work is about building citizens trust in the eu
it will come as no surprise that i totally agree with that
i do not have much time at my disposal so would like to concentrate on just a few important points
the paliadeli report offers a clear exhaustive overview of the ombudsman's activities for the past year and the new presentation for statistics and new layout makes this report accessible and easy to read
in two thousand and eight the commission contributed an opinion to the negotiations on the review of the ombudsman's statute
we took an active part in the interinstitutional work to reach a satisfactory solution
we can all be proud of the result which is the new statute
i believe it is a result that citizens will benefit from
regarding complaints to the ombudsman we saw a six increase compared with two thousand and seven
as you know sixty-six of the enquiries focused on the commission
i do not see this as particularly strange
after all the commission is a fairly big institution with many more areas of responsibility likely to be targeted by complainants but of course the figures can and should be improved
that is also true of the fact that the most frequent claims for maladministration concern a lack of transparency namely thirty-six of all enquiries
such figures need to be brought down by all institutions
a different but related subject is that of the treatment of information relating to business secrets and confidential information
recently we have seen some difficulties in relation to competition files
for this reason we need to define modalities for the treatment of classified information documents and other information covered by the obligation of professional secrecy
the commission has been working hard on this issue and we will soon be able to submit a proposal to the ombudsman
another positive development is the increase in the number of friendly solutions as we have already heard
in two thousand and eight thirty-six of all investigations were either settled by the institution complained against or resulted in a friendly solution
for the commission i am glad to say that the trend is definitely moving in the right direction
this shows both an awareness and an acknowledgement of the ombudsman's work as well as respect for the complainants
my second to last point is about the call made in the draft resolution for a common approach to a code of good administrative behaviour
as you know the commission has its own code and that is broadly in line with the requirements of the ombudsman
this important matter is best brought forward by first having a constructive interinstitutional debate and dialogue before presenting a legislative proposal
my last point is about communication in practice
here i want to commend the ombudsman on his new website
just like the annual report it is thorough complete and user-friendly
when it comes to developing an interactive handbook to help citizens identify the most appropriate forum for solving their problems i firmly believe that this excellent new website tackles the problem
the work should not be duplicated but be given enhanced visibility
from the commission's side we have tried to contribute to this and the new europa website does exactly that
it enhances visibility and citizens can easily find the ombudsman's guide in a couple of clicks
so all in all in two thousand and eight we saw both progress and possibilities for further improvements by our institutions
i would again like to thank mr diamandouros for his achievements and important work and mrs paliadeli for her excellent report
