Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

21. Is worried that the Ombudsman identified several transparency concerns in the Commission’s interactions with the tobacco industry; notes, however, that the Commission committed to further assessing the exposure of its departments to lobbying by the tobacco industry; reminds the Commission that the EU and all its Member States are signatories to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and that they are therefore obliged, in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, to take action to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry;

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Changed22. PointsRecalls the imperative obligation of the EU institutions to secure the services of independent and well-qualified officials recruited in an open manner and with due geographical balance between nationalities and languages; points out that the Ombudsman conducted an inquiry into how EPSOthe European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) carried out ‘pre-selection’ tests as part of a procedure to recruit new staff into the EU civil service, and identified issues concerning the organisation of tests which are exclusively carried out remotely; calls on EPSO to improve its recruitment procedures by ensuring that technical requirements do not disadvantage certain candidates and to provide clear information to candidates; is of the opinion that candidates should be given the option, if they so choose, to participate in these tests while physically present at a test centre, as was common practice prior to the COVID-19 pandemic;

23. Welcomes the fact that, in 2023, the Office of the European Ombudsman continued to publicise its role and promote its work to the widest possible audience and participated in the European Youth Event (EYE2023); stresses the importance of the discussion organised by the Ombudsman with the participation of the Commission and Parliament on compliance with the integrity framework of the EU administration;

24. Welcomes the Ombudsman’s inquiries following complaints by persons with disabilities, and encourages her work as an active participant in the EU Framework for the UN CRPD; highlights the importance of the Ombudsman’s commitment to monitor the EU administration’s implementation of the UN CRPD and calls for all EU institutions to pay the utmost attention to the recommendations of the Ombudsman in the inquiries related to the rights of persons with disabilities; appreciates the Ombudsman’s chairmanship in 2023 of the EU Framework for the UN CRPD and her continuous work as a member of that framework;

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Added25. Stresses that the ‘European Accessibility Act’ was adopted on 17 April 2019 and that the deadline set out in it for its transposition by Member States was 28 June 2022; underlines that the main scope of the European Accessibility Act was to make life easier for at least 87 million persons with disabilities, facilitating their access to, among other things, public transport, banking services, computers, televisions, e-books and online shops; strongly regrets that all Member States are still failing to ensure its full and consistent transposition and keep accumulating delays, as confirmed by the ongoing infringement proceedings launched against all of them by the Commission; calls on the Ombudsman to raise this very serious violation of EU law, which severely undermines the rights of persons with disabilities, as part of the overall activities carried out within the EU framework for the UN CRPD, in order to help resolve it as a matter of priority;

26. Welcomes the Ombudsman’s inquiry into how the Commission applies the rule under the EU Staff Regulations concerning the doubling of the child allowance to assist with care of children with disabilities; welcomes the Commission’s initiative, in this regard, to proceed for the whole EU administration to revise the applicable rules in order to ensure an individual substantive assessment of all applications for this type of allowance;

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Changed26.27. Stresses the importance of the European Network of Ombudsmen (ENO) and the annual meetings hosted with national and regional ombudsmen through the ENO in further raising awareness of what the European Ombudsman can do for European citizens; encourages the Ombudsman to continue to take part in exchanges of experience and best practice with national ombudsmen through the ENO; takes note of the fact that the 2023 ENO annual conference focused on the protection of human rights and addressing the benefits and potential drawbacks of the use of AI in public administration; encourages civil society organisations to better use the services of the European Ombudsman for carrying out scrutiny of the EU institutions, guaranteeing transparency and handling cases of non-compliance with Union law;

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Changed27.28. Calls for the continuation of the close cooperation between the Ombudsman and the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions, which have the shared mission of bringing the EU institutions closer to citizens; expresses its great appreciation for the attention and follow-up that the Ombudsman affords to all complaints, including thosethe referral of complaints, falling outside theher mandateremit, ofconcerning the European Ombudsman,implementation suchof asEU citizens’legislation complaintsto aboutanother specificrelevant issuesauthority relatedor to EUParliament’s legislation,Committee andon supportsPetitions; encourages the OmbudsmanOmbudsman’s inOffice advisingto thosecontinue complainantsits efforts to turnthat toend, Parliament’sgiven that cooperation with the Committee on Petitions;Petitions, timely information and access to documents in all 24 official EU languages may increase the effective participation of citizens and civil society in the decision-making process;

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Added29. Appreciates that the acceptance rate for 2023 by the EU institutions, namely the percentage of positive replies to the total number of proposals made by the Ombudsman to correct or improve their administrative practices, stood at 81 %, representing an improvement on the previous year; strongly believes, however, that the Union institutions, agencies, bodies and offices must fully and consistently comply with all of the Ombudsman’s solutions, recommendations and suggestions;

30. Praises the Ombudsman for her continuous constructive working relationship with the Commission, which is the EU institution affected by the majority of the Ombudsman’s inquiries; notes that this relationship helps the Commission make its administrative procedures more efficient and more transparent;

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Changed29.31. Appreciates and welcomes the efforts of the Ombudsman and her office to constantly improve their internal procedures to ensure that complainants have an optimal experience and that complaints are dealt with as efficiently as possible; encourages the Ombudsman’s efforts to further improve the visibility of her activities and welcomes the improvements to the Ombudsman’s online complaint system, which have made it more user-friendly; welcomes the Ombudsman’s multilingual website, which reflects the Ombudsman’s commitment to offer assistance in the 24 official languages of the EU; emphasises the significance of guaranteeing full access for disabled persons to the whole range of resources provided by the EU to its citizens, especially through systematic translation and interpretation services offered in all official languages, including sign language;

32. Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the report of the Committee on Petitions to the Council, the Commission, the European Ombudsman, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, and their ombudsmen or similar competent bodies.