P. Nikiforos Diamandouros steps down in October after 10 years as Ombudsman and tells EuroparlTV that transparency is replacing secrecy among EU officials.

Interview: 'Things have improved' - outgoing Ombudsman

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16315500/n003-0250-en.srt

Nikiforos Diamandouros, you've been  Ombudsman for 10 years

and in that time you say  the EU administration

has become more transparent,  citizen-friendly and service-minded.

And yet you've opened a record number  of actual inquiries in 2012.

It means that, increasingly, EU institutions  and citizens are aware of their rights,

and obligations,  as far as the institutions are concerned.

Therefore, they know where to go.  They go to the European Ombudsman,

pose their questions  and allow us to help them.

So I would derive satisfaction from these  kinds of statistics as evidence of the fact

that citizens are now better able to exercise  their rights under the Lisbon Treaty.

You mentioned there have  been improvements

and a much better attitude towards service  on the part of the institutions themselves.

Has there been a seachange  during this past decade?

I always like to choose  my words very carefully.

I would say that there has been  a perceptible change, an important change,

and certainly we are very far away  from where we were before 2001

when the law of the land, so to speak, the  prevailing practice was a practice of secrecy

whereby all information available  in the hands of the public administration

was to be given out 'at its discretion',

which implied that it had chosen not  to give it out, it had the discretion not to,

because since 2001, with a new regulation,  all the information is by definition public

and therefore the institutions  must give it out

unless they can invoke four, and only four,  specific exceptions to these rules.

Applying the law to life  implies a gradual evolution

and there has been  significant evolution.

But there's always a great deal  of room for improvement at all times

and this is what I'm trying to do  by proactively pushing for this at all levels.

You say there's been a change in the  mindset here but regards transparency,

you look back on things  like the European Medicines Agency

as something where your office  has made a difference, a major difference.

I'd like to think that there have been  a number of areas

where the office has been able to make  substantive and substantial difference

The case you mentioned with the European  Medicines Agency is very important

because its decision to release information  of clinical trials for medication,

medication that affects millions of people,

means that we now have a decision  to disclose information

on matters that really touch  the daily lives of millions of citizens.

To the extent that the Ombudsman has  contributed to this change, I'd feel happy.

Whoever succeeds me  ought to be mindful of the need

to be able to take account of this issue  of appearance and perception

and not only the genuine issue  of independence and impartiality.

The Organisation for Economic  Co-operation and Development

has developed criteria of conflicts of interest

and has spoken not only of real conflicts  of interest but apparent conflicts of interest.

You've got as an Ombudsman,  as you're a moral authority,

as you stand or fall  on the credibility of your moral authority,

to make sure that the perception of you  as impartial and independent

I can't imagine you're retiring.  What are you going to do?

Thank you, I think that is  a very accurate description.

I've been a university professor  all my life.

An area that I have missed in the past  15 years that I have been Ombudsman -

five as national Ombudsman of Greece  and 10 as European Ombudsman -

has been the fact that my professional  obligations have always had to come first

and I've not been able to write academically.

and to be able to record my experiences  as EU Ombudsman,

to write about the field of my specialisation,  which is the quality of democracy,

I'd like to also return to my erstwhile role  as an active citizen in my own country,

So, I think, these two areas, plus being  able to enjoy my family and friends more,

provide you with the answer  that I'm not about to retire at all

but I want to just have enough time  to shift my attention and my energies

I shall look forward to reading  your first book.

Nikiforos Diamandouros,  thank you very much.

Thank you very much for giving me  the chance to be able to share my views.