Parliament has given its annual verdict on the work done by the European Ombudsman over the previous year. In a report adopted on Thursday, MEPs call for more visibility for the Ombudsman's activities and point to the high number of complaints about a lack of transparency within the EU institutions.

The role of the European Ombudsman, set up in 1995, is to investigate cases of alleged maladministration by the EU institutions.  Of the 296 inquiries opened in 2008 by the Ombudsman, 36% dealt with a lack of transparency, including a refusal to provide information or documents. MEPs are concerned about this, since a transparent administration is crucial to building public trust in the EU.

The European Ombudsman's office was set up in 1995. The current holder is Nikiforos Diamandouros, who was initially elected in January 2003 for the remainder of the 1999-2004 legislature following the retirement of the first Ombudsman, Jacob Söderman, and then re-elected in January 2005 for a further five years.

2008: facts and figures

The Ombudsman recorded 3406 complaints in 2008, compared to 3211 in 2007. Of these, 802 were found to fall within the Ombudsman's terms of reference, compared to 870 in 2007.

Most of the inquiries launched by the Ombudsman last year concerned the European Commission (66%). Other targets were the administration of the European Parliament (10%), the European Personnel Selection Office EPSO (7%), the Council (3%) and the European Anti-Fraud Office (2%).

The findings of the 355 completed inquiries show that in 110 cases (31% of the complaints investigated) no maladministration was found.

In 129 cases (36% of the total) completed in 2008, the institution concerned agreed to an amicable solution or settled the matter.

Election of the next Ombudsman

The Ombudsman is elected by the European Parliament by secret ballot at the start of each parliamentary term.  The next Ombudsman will be elected in January 2010.

The three candidates for the election are the incumbent Mr Diamandouros (Greece), Vittorio Bottoli (Italy) and Pierre-Yves Monette (Belgium). All of them will outline their priorities at a hearing before the EP Petitions Committee on 30 November.