Varuh ДЌlovekovih pravic

European Ombudsman Came to Inform Slovenians of Their Rights


Slovenia's membership of the EU will enable Slovenian citizens to enjoy a vast spectrum of rights secured by the EU citizenship, European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros told Tuesday's news conference upon concluding his two-day visit to Slovenia. The main reason of his visit was to inform the Slovenian people about his work and about their rights in the EU and also an attempt to strengthen the ties between the European and Slovenian ombudsmen.

The EU citizenship includes a right to contact the EU ombudsman, according to Diamandouros. He explained that Slovenians will be able to address him in case of violations by European institutions, while any violations committed by the national institutions will remain in the domain of the Slovenian ombudsman.

Diamandouros reiterated that he is in no way empowered to deal with the current situation in Slovenia, notably the issue of the erased and the building of a mosque in Ljubljana.

According to Diamandouros, the European ombudsman is above all responsible to deal with a lack of action or delays of European institutions and irregularities regarding selections for EU jobs, contracts made between EU institutions and individuals, and access to EU documents.

Much progress has been made recently concerning the documents' access, as institutions have made improvements in terms of transparency and openness in recent years, also due to the work undertaken by the ombudsman, Diamanduros noted.

He went on to explain that he is encountering great challenges in trying to balance the principle of free access to information with that of the protection of privacy, which is also a moral and political dilemma of European institutions.

During his stay in Slovenia, Diamandouros met with his Slovenian counterpart Matjaz Hanzek, President Janez Drnovsek, Prime Minister Anton Rop, Speaker of the National Assembly Borut Pahor an Deputy Groups, European Affairs Minister Janez Potocnik, and President of the Constitutional Court Dragica Wedam Lukic.

 

SOURCE: STA (Slovenian Press Agency) , 27. 1. 2004

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