‘Today, the Ombudsman consumes neither painkillers nor champagne when it turns out that a case includes EU law.’
So says Parliamentary Ombudsman Niels Fenger in an article in the English version of the Ombudsman’s 2023 Annual Report.
In the article, Niels Fenger analyses the development of the Ombudsman Office’s approach to EU law through the years. He shows that, for many years, the Ombudsman had a careful and cautious approach to the review of Danish authorities’ application of EU rules. In recent years, however, EU law has taken its place as a natural basis for review in the same way as Danish rules. For instance, this applies to Directive 2003/4 on public access to environmental information, which is the EU legislative act that the Ombudsman most often includes in his assessment basis.
Niels Fenger also states that the number of complaint cases to the Ombudsman concerning EU law has increased in recent years. However, it is still low considering how big a part of the Danish legislation that originates in EU law.
Klavs Kinnerup Hede, Director of International Relations, contributes to the Annual Report with an article on the Ombudsman’s interaction with the world around us. The reader gets a look at the Ombudsman’s international activities and his cooperation with international organisations and authorities, among other things.
Highest number of cases ever
In addition, the Annual Report mentions some of the cases that the Ombudsman dealt with in 2023, and it contains some statistical information about the Ombudsman’s work. In this section of the Annual Report, it says that the Ombudsman opened 6,167 cases last year, which is the highest number in the history of the Ombudsman Office.
Read the Annual Report
Further details:
Director of International Relations Klavs Kinnerup Hede, tel.: +45 33 13 25 12, e-mail: kkh@ombudsmanden.dk