1.

Notes that in 2008 the European Ombudsman (the Ombudsman) had commitment appropriations available amounting to a total of EUR 9 million (2007: EUR 8,2 million), with a utilisation rate of 91,51 %, below the average of the other institutions (95,67 %);

2.

Notes that the Court of Auditors indicated in its annual report that the audit did not give rise to any significant observations as regards the Ombudsman;

3.

Notes a trend of persistent growth over the period from 2003 to 2008, during which time commitment appropriations doubled from EUR 4,4 million to EUR 9 million, and the number of posts increased from 31 to 57 (with 6 more posts in 2009), while complaints have increased from 2 436 to 3 346 and new enquiries opened from 253 to 293; notes that while the number of posts did not increase for the last three financial years, an increase to 63 in 2009 was planned; also notes that currently, after the internal restructuring of 2008, 24 out of 57 posts are assigned to analysing complaints and conducting inquiries (Legal department), and 31 are assigned to registration, distribution and follow-up of the complaints, as well as any other work not directly related to the core activity (Administration and Finance department);

4.

Recalls that the framework cooperation agreement of indefinite duration between the Ombudsman and the Parliament, which entered into force on 1 April 2006, stipulates that the Parliament provide certain administrative services, including buildings, IT, communications, legal advice, medical services, training, translation and interpretation;

5.

Notes the priority areas identified by the Internal Audit service, in particular, audit of the public procurement process, including follow-up of uncompleted actions, the process for auditing grants, and completion and reporting on 2007 audits; welcomes the findings, in particular the observation that the procurement process had considerably improved, and that two open actions from the 2005 audit had been improved, as well as the observation that the process for awarding grants complies with the regulatory framework, principles of transparency and sound financial management;

6.

Notes, however, that the internal audit also revealed areas with scope for further improvement, in particular: procurement procedure files should include more complete information, delivery-due date modifications should only be allowed in exceptional cases, better planning of timing for tendering procedures, and inconsistent clauses in contracts to be corrected before signature; expects that the Ombudsman will follow up these issues and report to the Parliament in its activity report;

7.

Welcomes the Ombudsman’s decision to publish the annual declaration of interests of the Ombudsman and the fact that the declaration is published on the Ombudsman’s website;

8.

Reiterates its requests that the Ombudsman should include in its activity report a chapter giving a detailed account of the follow-up during the year to Parliament’s earlier discharge decisions.