Research On The European Ombudsman Legal System

The concept of Ombudsman can be traced back to the18th century Sweden.The intention to create the system is to supervise officials on behalfof the kingship. In the next hundred years, with the battles among kings,aristocrats and new bourgeoisie, as well as Swedish constitutionalmonarchy finally established, the Ombudsman gradually developed intoParliamentary Ombudsman, who was elected by the Parliament to supervisepublic authorities and civil servants, including the judiciary, on theirenforcement of law and regulations, and to litigate within a certain range,according to the instructions of the Parliament.Entering the20th century, especially after World War II, with therapid development of productive forces, expanding of the socioeconomicfields and the emergence of delegated legislation, the administrativepower presented a rapid expansion trend. The western traditionalSeparation of Powers or Power Restriction received challenges. It becameincreasingly important on how to more effectively supervise and restrictthe administrative power and to prevent the abuse of powers. It's againstthis backdrop, the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman system began to beunderstood and valued as a unique means to restrict the administrativepower. In1955, also from the Scandinavian Peninsula, Denmark firstestablished the Ombudsman system after World War II and took innovationon Swedish model, i.e. abolished the function of prosecution by the Ombudsman, strictly limited the Ombudsman's objects of review to theadministrative power field etc. Since then, the Ombudsman systemdeveloped worldwide. As of now, there're more than150countries andregions who have established the Ombudsman system. Combined with theiractual situations, the countries and regions made innovation anddevelopment, such as the Ombudsman's name, manifestation and the termsof reference etc. The value orientation of the Ombudsman system graduallyshifted from the administrative restriction to the protection of humanrights. But generally speaking, all the Ombudsman systems retain somecommon features, i.e., independent status, authoritativeness, and softlaw effect of decisions.After World War II, under the promotion of Germany and France, Europebegan its integration from1952, when the Coal and Steel Communityestablished, with only6member states. In1992, with the EuropeanCommunity, common foreign and security policy, justice and domesticaffairs cooperation as its three pillars, European Union established,consisting of12member states. In2003, the EU made its own ConstitutionDraft, which first introduced the concept of EU Constitution. In this year,the number of its member states reached to27. Throughout the history ofthe European integration process, its development can be described asrapid. But in this process, the EC/EU also encountered the same problemwith the post-war western countries, that is, the expansion ofadministrative power. European integration was launched under the strongpromotion of France and Germany, which reflected within the EC/EU, wasthat the Council of Ministers representing the member governments and theCommission as the executing agency dominated the EC/EU operation, whereasthe European Parliament who was on behalf of the interests of Europeancitizens didn't enjoy any real power. Absence of administrativesupervision led to power imbalance and produced Democracy Deficit, suchas administrative decision opaque, delayed, and bureaucratic etc. People therefore lack closeness and the sense of identity to the EC/EU, whichin turn hampered the process of European integration. Under the background,the EC/EU conducted a series of reforms to further improve democraticprocedure, eliminate Democracy Deficit and to promote the power ofintegration. The introduction of the Ombudsman system and theestablishment of the European Ombudsman system was one.The EU Ombudsman system was formally included in the Maastricht Treatysigned in1992. The1st European Ombudsman assumed office in1995by theEuropean Parliament election. Just more than ten years, the power of EUOmbudsman expanded rapidly. EU Ombudsman Act and EU Ombudsman Rules wereissued. The European Parliament also passed European Good AdministrativeLaw under the promotion of the EU Ombudsman. Through the above legalstandards, the European Ombudsman established a set of power-exercisingprocedures and basis. In addition, by submitting annual and specialreports to the European Parliament, the EU Ombudsman further expanded itspower. Its role and influence was gradually revealed in EU politics.Surveying the history of EU Ombudsman system, it's easy to find thatthe establishment of EU Ombudsman system met the needs of EU's politicaldevelopment and its rapid development indeed improved EU's ecologicalpolitics. It's a win-win result for all.The first is to promote European political integration. The DemocracyDeficit of EU politics mainly focused on the serious bureaucratic tendency,lack of transparency in decision-making and out of touch with the peopleetc. To a large extent, establishing EU Ombudsman system was a responseto the problem. When the first European Ombudsman took office, he madeit clear that the Ombudsman has four functions:1.To seek to provideeffective personal relief for EU citizens, when their legal rights arenot respected by EU institutions and departments, or they do not gettreatment of legitimate administrative action.2. To promote legitimateadministration.3. To resolve a dispute in a friendly manner in order to reduce the burden of proceedings.4. To improve the transparency andprotection level of EU citizens' rights. Through ten years of practice,the EU Ombudsman has made important contributions to resolve disputes,to protect basic human rights, to promote information disclosure and goodadministration etc. All these helped to narrow the distance between EUand the European public and to promote the European identity.The second is to promote European legal integration. It's the similarlegal and cultural traditions of the European countries and the needs forcommon law and civil law to learn from each other that made it possiblefor the European legal integration. The promotion of EU legislation madeit a necessity. Under the interaction of the two aspects, the laws of EUand its Member States gradually converged. Britain, Ireland and Denmarkjoined the EC in1972, only England and Denmark in the9member statesestablished the Ombudsman system. But it still led to the idea of theEuropean Economic Community and the European Parliament establishing theOmbudsman system. Before the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in1992,among12member states of the European Economic Community,7establishednational level Ombudsman system, and2established regional levelOmbudsman system. On this basis, the establishment of the EU Ombudsmansystem became a matter of course. In turn, after the EU Ombudsman systemestablished, some member states started to establish the system under thepromotion of the EU Ombudsman. At present, among27member states of EU,25have established national or regional level Ombudsman system. Besides,the establishment of the Ombudsman network across Europe promoted theintegration of the countries in the Ombudsman system.The third is to promote power-expanding of European Parliament. Asthe first multinational parliament in the world, European Parliament isplaying an important role in the European present political systems. It'swidely enjoying legislation, budget decision, administrative supervisionand other powers, becoming increasingly important in the EU politics. However, the status and role of European Parliament was not born by nature.When the Common European Convention, the predecessor of EuropeanParliament established in1952, it was only an auxiliary institution withno real power and once was sneered as a rubber stamp, a synonymous withnominal political institutions. But after then, along with the processof European integration, European Parliament was continuing to seekopportunities and make unremitting efforts to constantly enhance itsstatus and role through agreements with other institutions and amendmentsof the Treaty. More than half a century passed, European integration hasdeveloped from the Coal and Steel Community into the phase of draftingits own constitution, and the European Parliament also from the originalrubber stamp to a tower of strength in EU politics. To the EuropeanParliament, the Ombudsman has been acting as the supervisor of theadministrative power since its birth. With development, the supervisingfunction weakens and the protecting function of human rights getsstrengthened. Whatever, it shares the same value orientation with theParliament. Establishing the EU Ombudsman system helps the EuropeanParliament to further restrict the administrative power and protect thecitizens' civil rights. And at the same time, the artfully-designedsystem made the European Ombudsman have a certain dependence relationshipwith European Parliament, which objectively prevents direct conflicts orpower competitions between them and hinders no power-expanding of theEuropean Parliament. The practice of EU Ombudsman has fully illustrated.The European Ombudsman and the European Parliament have actually becomeallies, accomplishing a positive interaction in EU politics.