EU institutions have complied with the 82% European Ombudsman's recommendations

EU institutions have complied with the 82% European Ombudsman's recommendations

European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros considers that in 2011 the compliance rate institutions European Union (EU) on his suggestions was 82%, in the context in which it issued in that year 120 recommendations, positions and friendly solutions, a release of the European Commission (EC) released Monday.

'European Ombudsman's decisions are not binding law. That is why I rely on my arguments convincing force and the availability of institutions to cooperate with me in combat administrative shortcomings and draw lessons for the future. Overall compliance rate of 82% is encouraging, but leaves room for improvement, especially for institutions that are significantly below average, "said Nikiforos Diamandouros, quoted in press.

In 2011, recommendations, positions and amicable solutions proposed by the Ombudsman were related to situations such as the refusal to allow access to documents, problems with procedures, conflict of interest or violation of the right to a hearing.

In one case, the Ombudsman has contributed to the settlement of a dispute between the European Commission (EC) and an NGO on an EU project launched under the 'European Dialogue on Migration'. EC finally returned 70,000 euros NGO concerned.

On the other hand, there was a situation in which the EC has decided not to follow the recommendation of the Ombudsman to facilitate access to the requested documents.

In another case, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has followed the recommendations of the Ombudsman to publish warnings about possible side effects related to Septrin, a medicine used to treat bacterial infections.