Mastroianni, Roberto --- "New perspectives for the European Ombudsman opened by the Lisbon Treaty" [2017] ELECD 891; in Hofmann, C.H. Herwig; Ziller, Jacques (eds), "Accountability in the EU" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 178

Book Title: Accountability in the EU

Editor(s): Hofmann, C.H. Herwig; Ziller, Jacques

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785367304

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: New perspectives for the European Ombudsman opened by the Lisbon Treaty

Author(s): Mastroianni, Roberto

Number of pages: 20

Abstract/Description:

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the impact of the Treaty of Lisbon on the role and activities of the European Ombudsman, in the light of recent practice. The above-mentioned Treaty clearly improved importance and responsibility of the EO in two different ways: firstly, it broadened its mandate by adding ‘agencies and offices’ in the list of European administrations potentially covered by its enquiries, as well as by extending its competence to the former second pillar (Common Foreign and Security Policy). Secondly, it improved the rights of European citizens by recognizing legal binding force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which expressly qualifies recourse to the EO (art. 43) and the right to a good administration (art. 41) – as well as the right to access to documents (art. 42) – as fundamental rights of the European Union. Given this basic framework, as an example of the EO’s proactive approach in the application of the existing rules, the paper also focuses on the EO recent inquiry on the functioning and possible revision of the European Citizens’ Initiative.