The second day of the annual meeting of European members of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) focused on financial independence of the ombudsman. According to Sweden's parliamentary Ombudsman Kerstin Andre, financial independence is imperative because the ombudsman requires enough funds to carry out their task successfully.
The task of the ombudsman is to protect citizens through the supervision of state institutions, Andre said. The ombudsman must therefore be independent of the institutions they are overseeing, she added, explaining that financial independence is one of the keys to overall independence.

Following up the debate on the financial independence of the ombudsman, the participants of the three-day conference also examined links between the ombudsman and the civil society. According to the deputy Catalan ambassador Enric R. Bartlett, a dialogue between the ombudsman and the civil society is crucial, since an ombudsman can acquire specific information on given human rights violations from organisations that deal with such issues.

Bartlett believes that such co-operation benefits everyone, but warned that the ombudsman must be careful not to become focussed only on specific issues. This was echoed by Slovenian Ombudsman and host of the conference Matjaz Hanzek, who also took the opportunity to present his experience in co-operating with non-governmental organisations.

The 62 European ombudsmen and their representatives from 27 countries were received on Friday by outgoing Slovenian President Milan Kucan. This evening the participants are attending a reception hosted by Hanzek. The regular annual meeting, which is to conclude on Saturday, is to elect a new leadership and go over past work.