Euro ombudsman to visit

Nikiforos Diamandouros, Ombudsman of the European Union, will be visiting Malta from tomorrow to Thursday, to present his work directly to Maltese citizens.

He is on an information tour of the 10 acceding countries.

The institution of the European Ombudsman was established by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. The European parliament elected the first European Ombudsman in 1995 and Prof. Diamandouros, former national ombudsman in Greece, has held the post since April 1, 2003.

In the context of efforts to widen access to justice, the European Ombudsman is proposing that the draft constitution for Europe should recognise the right of citizens to non-judicial remedies, such as recourse to the Ombudsman to defend their rights under European Union law.

Apart from a series of meetings, in Malta Prof. Diamandouros will be giving a public lecture on the subject Building a Citizen-centred Europe - the Role of the European Ombudsman. He will also be taking part in an extraordinary session of the Mini European Assembly where he will deliver an address on Democracy, Accountability and the Institution of the Ombudsman.