Belgium, The federal Ombudsman
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The federal ombudsman
BELGIUM
Effectiveness
Contribution to the plenary meeting on
“Independence, Efficiency and Instruments for Influence:
Annual and Special Reports, Recommendations, etc.”
Dr Herman WUYTS
Federal ombudsman of Belgium,
Regional Vice-President – Europe, International Ombudsman Institute
Sofia, Bulgaria, June 7, 2002
Ladies and Gentlemen,
For new and young ombudsman institutions work starts after the voting of the Ombudsman Act in parliament.
Of course, a lot of work has to be completed beforehand in order to find, at your first day as an ombudsman, a framework that enables you to start as an independent, politically neutral and impartial institution. But, whatever the content of the Ombudsman Act is, whatever the framework within which he or she will have to fulfil his or her task, there always is the fact that the ombudsman office is a new institution, a new element in an existing scheme of organizations which have developed – or are developing – reciprocal relations. Maybe, the countries in transition have an advantage here, since these relations have been developed recently, in the last five, ten, maybe fifteen years and, for that reason, do not have the characteristics of older democracies: one should say, in this perspective, older bureaucracies. A new institution has to prove its importance and has to win its partners’ confidence.
This is the only point I want to stress in this contribution. The new ombudsman office as well as the young ombudsman office during more than one year of their existence, have to realize themselves, not legally, since the act has been voted (and of course will need to be adapted when shortcomings become clear - and they will) but particularly, they will have to make themselves accepted as respected and loyal players in the game of public life. To achieve this, several measures can be taken and should be prepared from the early beginning and even before.
The ombudsman has to realize his office firstly at the political level, i.e. the members of parliament and the government; secondly at the level of the civil service that it will control on behalf of parliament; and, thirdly, at the level of the citizen.
The political level
Not all members of parliament have participated in the preparation and elaboration of the Ombudsman Act. Those who did not, normally the largest number of members of parliament, have a vague idea about what an ombudsman is and what his office can do, will do and is allowed to do. They have to be informed in order to avoid wrong expectations that can lead to frustration and, in some cases, to boycott.
Concretely:
- Parliament as an institution
- Is there a need to change the internal rules?
- Who will receive the reports?
- How can the standing committees be involved?
- If there is a petitions committee – what will the distribution of work be between the commission and the ombudsman?
Members of parliament receive complaints, too; they sometimes consider themselves as the first ombudsman
How to conciliate this need of contact with their electorate and the work of the ombudsman?
The level of the civil service
Civil servants, too, have a general and mostly vague idea about the ombudsman function and should be prepared to its functioning. But there is more. Since the ombudsman can only make recommendations that the civil service will implement or not (!), a good reciprocal understanding is needed. The civil service’s top management know in advance that the activities of the ombudsman will not disturb the functioning of their organization. But they should also know in time what is going wrong in order to enable them to react immediately and not to bring them out of the clouds at the moment of the presentation of the annual report. There are techniques that make this possible.
Concretely:
- How can you assure the civil service that you will not disturb them with “stupid questions”?
- Inform them of how many days they have to react on letters of the ombudsman.
- Can regular contacts be organized with the department’s top management?
- Can the ombudsman investigators visit an organization unexpectedly?
- Are there civil servants with a specific information task? If so, how to develop a good collaboration with them?
The level of the citizen
Citizens, in most cases, have high expectations for the ombudsman’s office. Too high expectations, once more, can lead to frustration and a negative feeling towards “the State”, “the Civil Service” or “Politics” in general. This has to be avoided by information campaigns, which tell people that the ombudsman office exists, and what can be expected from it and what not. And all this very concretely!
Concretely:
- How to reach the ombudsman? When? Where?
- What complaints can be accepted and which ones certainly not?
- What procedure does the ombudsman follow?
An information brochure can be very useful in this perspective.
All these measures can bring the ombudsman’s effectiveness to a higher level.
Thank you for your attention!
Newsletter No. 27
The federal ombudsman
BELGIUM
Effectiveness
Contribution to the plenary meeting on
“Independence, Efficiency and Instruments for Influence:
Annual and Special Reports, Recommendations, etc.”
Dr Herman WUYTS
Federal ombudsman of Belgium,
Regional Vice-President – Europe, International Ombudsman Institute
Sofia, Bulgaria, June 7, 2002
Ladies and Gentlemen,
For new and young ombudsman institutions work starts after the voting of the Ombudsman Act in parliament.
Of course, a lot of work has to be completed beforehand in order to find, at your first day as an ombudsman, a framework that enables you to start as an independent, politically neutral and impartial institution. But, whatever the content of the Ombudsman Act is, whatever the framework within which he or she will have to fulfil his or her task, there always is the fact that the ombudsman office is a new institution, a new element in an existing scheme of organizations which have developed – or are developing – reciprocal relations. Maybe, the countries in transition have an advantage here, since these relations have been developed recently, in the last five, ten, maybe fifteen years and, for that reason, do not have the characteristics of older democracies: one should say, in this perspective, older bureaucracies. A new institution has to prove its importance and has to win its partners’ confidence.
This is the only point I want to stress in this contribution. The new ombudsman office as well as the young ombudsman office during more than one year of their existence, have to realize themselves, not legally, since the act has been voted (and of course will need to be adapted when shortcomings become clear - and they will) but particularly, they will have to make themselves accepted as respected and loyal players in the game of public life. To achieve this, several measures can be taken and should be prepared from the early beginning and even before.
The ombudsman has to realize his office firstly at the political level, i.e. the members of parliament and the government; secondly at the level of the civil service that it will control on behalf of parliament; and, thirdly, at the level of the citizen.
The political level
Not all members of parliament have participated in the preparation and elaboration of the Ombudsman Act. Those who did not, normally the largest number of members of parliament, have a vague idea about what an ombudsman is and what his office can do, will do and is allowed to do. They have to be informed in order to avoid wrong expectations that can lead to frustration and, in some cases, to boycott.
Concretely:
- Parliament as an institution
- Is there a need to change the internal rules?
- Who will receive the reports?
- How can the standing committees be involved?
- If there is a petitions committee – what will the distribution of work be between the commission and the ombudsman?
Members of parliament receive complaints, too; they sometimes consider themselves as the first ombudsman
How to conciliate this need of contact with their electorate and the work of the ombudsman?
The level of the civil service
Civil servants, too, have a general and mostly vague idea about the ombudsman function and should be prepared to its functioning. But there is more. Since the ombudsman can only make recommendations that the civil service will implement or not (!), a good reciprocal understanding is needed. The civil service’s top management know in advance that the activities of the ombudsman will not disturb the functioning of their organization. But they should also know in time what is going wrong in order to enable them to react immediately and not to bring them out of the clouds at the moment of the presentation of the annual report. There are techniques that make this possible.
Concretely:
- How can you assure the civil service that you will not disturb them with “stupid questions”?
- Inform them of how many days they have to react on letters of the ombudsman.
- Can regular contacts be organized with the department’s top management?
- Can the ombudsman investigators visit an organization unexpectedly?
- Are there civil servants with a specific information task? If so, how to develop a good collaboration with them?
The level of the citizen
Citizens, in most cases, have high expectations for the ombudsman’s office. Too high expectations, once more, can lead to frustration and a negative feeling towards “the State”, “the Civil Service” or “Politics” in general. This has to be avoided by information campaigns, which tell people that the ombudsman office exists, and what can be expected from it and what not. And all this very concretely!
Concretely:
- How to reach the ombudsman? When? Where?
- What complaints can be accepted and which ones certainly not?
- What procedure does the ombudsman follow?
An information brochure can be very useful in this perspective.
All these measures can bring the ombudsman’s effectiveness to a higher level.
Thank you for your attention!
