2. European Parliament resolution of 24 April 2007 with observations forming an integral part of the decision on the discharge for the implementation of the European Union general budget for the financial year 2005, Section VIIIA - European Ombudsman (C6-0471/2006 - 2006/2063(DEC))
Date: 2008-03-20
Institutions: Committee on Budgetary Control, European Parliament
Subjects: European Ombudsman, budgetary discharge, financial year, general budget (EU), implementation of the budget

C 74 E/170

Official Journal of the European Union

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20.3.2008

Tuesday 24 April 2007

2.
European Parliament resolution of 24 April 2007 with observations forming an integral part of the
decision on the discharge for the implementation of the European Union general budget for the
financial year 2005, Section VIIIA — European Ombudsman (C6-0471/2006 — 2006/2063(DEC))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the European Union general budget for the financial year 2005 (1),

— having regard to the final annual accounts of the European Communities for the financial year 2005 —

Volume I (C6-0471/2006) (2),

— having regard to the Annual Report of the Court of Auditors on implementation of the budget for the
financial year 2005 and the Court of Auditors' special reports, together with audited institutions'
replies (3),

— having regard to the statement of assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and
regularity of the underlying transactions provided by the Court of Auditors pursuant to Article 248 of
the EC Treaty (4),

— having regard to Articles 272(10), 274, 275 and 276 of the EC Treaty,

— having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial
the European Communities (5), and in particular

Regulation applicable to the general budget of
Articles 50, 86, 145, 146 and 147 thereof,

— having regard to Rule 71 of and Annex V to its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A6-0104/2007),

Notes that in 2005 the European Ombudsman (‘the Ombudsman’) had available commitment appro-
1.
priations amounting to a total of EUR 7 224 554 (2004: EUR 5 782 968) with a utilisation rate of 84,27 %;

Notes that the Ombudsman's 2005 financial statements disclose a negative economic out-turn for the

2.
year (EUR 98 482) and identical totals of assets and liabilities (EUR 890 853);

Points out that the Court of Auditors in its Annual Report on the 2005 financial year indicates that

3.
the audit did not give rise to any observations as regards the Ombudsman;

4.
Notes that according to the Internal Auditor's report to the Institution No 6/81: (i) the internal audi-
tor's work in 2005 did not reveal any areas of significant risk to the Ombudsman's budgetary operations;
and (ii) the Institution's internal management and control systems are effective and provide reasonable
assurance of attaining the control objectives on a consistent basis;

5.
Notes the information given by the Principal Authorising Officer by Delegation in his activity state-
ment that a self-assessment of the efficiency of the internal control framework of the Ombudsman's services
was carried out in early 2006 and that the global picture resulting from this exercise was that of an overall
satisfactory level of implementation of the internal control standards (76 %); also notes however that
improvements in effectiveness were needed in some areas (risk assessment, sensitive functions, multi-annual
programming);

(1) OJ L 60, 8.3.2005.
(2) OJ C 264, 31.10.2006, p. 1.
(3) OJ C 263, 31.10.2006, p. 1.
(4) OJ C 263, 31.10.2006, p. 10.
(5) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1995/2006 (OJ L 390,

30.12.2006, p. 1).

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Recalls that since 2004 the Ombudsman has had autonomy and full control over the financial trans-

6.
actions relating to his section of the budget;

Tuesday 24 April 2007

7.
Notes that a new framework cooperation agreement of indefinite duration between the Ombudsman
and the European Parliament concerning the provision of certain administrative services, including transla-
tion and office premises, was negotiated during 2005 and signed in March 2006;

8.
Records that the Ombudsman's annual caseload has increased from roughly 800 in 1996 to nearly
4 000 in 2005, according to the Ombudsman's Annual Report for 2005, with a particularly sharp rise
between 2003 and 2004 (53 %);

9.
Remarks that during 2005 the Ombudsman's Office experienced the full budgetary impact of the
2004 enlargement and that in the years 2004 and 2005 the budgetary authority authorised the Ombuds-
man to add to his establishment plan 20 new posts, which were added to the 31 that existed in 2003
(a 65 % increase in staff), while at the same time the level of appropriations authorised in the budget rose
from EUR 4 438 653 in 2003 to EUR 7 312 614 in 2005 (also a 65 % increase);

Notes from the Ombudsman's Annual Report that in 2005 he continued his information visits to the
10.
Member States with a view to improving citizens' awareness about their rights, raising the profile of the
Ombudsman's work among key members of the judicial, legislative and executive branches and enriching
his collaboration with his national counterparts; stresses the importance of that information campaign;

11.
Notes further that in 2005 the Ombudsman and his staff pursued their efforts to present the work of
the Institution, making 120 presentations at conferences, seminars and meetings during 2005, together with
50 interviews with journalists;

12.
Notes that according to his replies to the rapporteur's questionnaire the Ombudsman seeks to target
information to those countries where the level of complaints received is lower than might be expected given
the size of the population, for example, Germany and Italy and that the Ombudsman's media strategy is
therefore to raise the Ombudsman's profile in such Member States; considers that in order to identify target
countries, the Ombudsman should rely on surveys on the awareness of the citizens about his work in the
various Member States rather than the number of complaints;

13.
Points to the remark in the Ombudsman's activity statement that the year 2005 was an exceptional
year for the Ombudsman from a communications perspective in that in addition to the Institution's usual
activities in giving information on its work it also organised an extensive series of events to mark the 10th
anniversary of the Ombudsman; moreover, the Institution's communications capacity was significantly
expanded through the recruitment of personnel to fill three new specialist communications posts and the
assignment to the newly-created communications sector of a further member of staff from within the exist-
ing personnel;

Recalls that the Ombudsman's Statute laid down by the European Parliament in 1994 imposes no

14.
obligation on the Ombudsman to publish his financial and economic interests;

15.
Notes that the Statute places the Ombudsman on a footing comparable with that of a Judge of the
European Court of Justice (ECJ); points out that the ECJ — on the European Parliament's suggestion — has
set up a working group to examine the most appropriate way of ensuring transparency with regard to the
judges' financial interests; asks that pending the outcome of the inquiry the Ombudsman should follow the
example set by the European Data Protection Supervisor and his deputy in publishing a declaration of
financial interests based on the form used for the Register of Financial Interests of Members of the European
Parliament.