Amendments suggested by MEP Mizzi unanimously adopted

Earlier today the European Parliament’s plenary approved by overwhelming majority the Parliament Report on the Annual Report about the activities of the European Ombudsman. Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi was the S&D group's main spokesperson on the subject.   This is Mizzi’s first report as a shadow rapporteur to be approved by the EP’s plenary for the new legislative term, after the last MEP elections.

 In her initial comments following the outcome of the vote, Marlene Mizzi said:

 “I am happy with the outcome of this vote.  This result is a confirmation of the European Parliament and in particular the Petitions Committee's (on which I sit as Vice-Chair) commitment and determination to work together for the benefit of our citizens, in order to make real progress in improving the quality of the European Union administration.”

 Each year the European Ombudsman steps up its supervision powers and through its annual Report, evaluates various cases of deficiencies and maladministration in the EU civil service. This year’s report was the subject of lengthy negotiations with the Petitions Committee within the European Parliament.

As shadow rapporteur, Mizzi was happy to see that most of her amendments were adopted unanimously by the other political groups. Her amendments included calling for a proper follow-up mechanism of the citizens' complaints, measures to improve the non-compliance of the Ombudsman recommendation, actions to speed up the process of inquiry and improve information channels to EU citizens.

 “The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, has produced an excellent, innovative and user-friendly report. But let's not fool ourselves. The EU has not yet achieved the high level of accountability and transparency that we should expect. In fact in the Report for 2013, the Ombudsman once again discovers that transparency, openness and access to information still top the list of complaints. Two-thirds of Europeans still feel that their voice does not count in the EU,” said Mizzi.

 “It is our duty to ensure that the interests of the citizen are protected from all points of view. The only way forward is to bring European citizens closer to the heart of the decision making process and to fully integrate their concerns in the work of the European Ombudsman and of all European Institutions.”

Mizzi said that this process can start if institutions guarantee that good governance in the EU conforms to the highest standard for the sake of all Europeans.

Fellow Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola agreed that increased transparency within EU institutions and governments is the best way to bridge the gap between citizens and lawmakers.

Echoing PN Leader Simon Busuttil's call in Malta, Dr Metsola stated that institutions need to become more open and more user-friendly.

"Governments and institutions need to trust their citizens more if we expect this trust to be reciprocated. They need to have strong mechanisms that allow people to redress their issues.”

“We need to realise that the era of leaders allowed to be clouded in secrecy is long over. People expect more and rightly so" said Metsola.

Metsola congratulated the EU Ombudsman for her hard work in dealing with citizens' complaints and underlined that politicians need to support independent Ombudsman Offices in every EU State.

Using Malta's Ombudsman as an example of good practice, Metsola said “The office is leading an initiative to launch the ‘International Ombudsman Law Institute’ on the island that should be supported.”