The first online discussion with the European Ombudsman in Bulgaria

The online discussion "The role of the European Ombudsman: Helping to improve relations between the EU and its citizens" starts at 11.00 a.m. Bulgarian time (10.00 a.m. - Brussels time) on Thursday, 4 September, 2008, with experts  from the office of the European Ombudsman - Mr P. Nikiforos Diamandouros.

The main guest of the debate will be Ms Rosita Agnew who is in charge of public and media relations for the European Ombudsman. Her colleagues will also join the forum.

The online discussion will take place at http://chat.europe.bg within the framework of the initiative „Now - interacting with the European Parliament!" (see http://parliament.europe.bg).

The event is open to all citizens of the European Union; working language - English. We look forward to receiving your questions and comments in Bulgarian, English, French and German - in real time at http://chat.europe.bg, as well as in advance at info@europe.bg. After the discussion our team will publish the full text.

The initiative „Now - interacting with the European Parliament!" http://parliament.europe.bg, which is implemented with the financial support of the EP, involves a series of Internet-discussions with representatives of EU institutions on diverse topics currently of interest to European citizens.

Additional information:

The European Ombudsman deals with complaints concerning cases of maladministration in the institututions and bodies of the EU, such as late payment in EU projects, refusal of access to EU documents, procedural delays, etc. The Ombudsman makes recommendations for good administration and cannot interfere in ongoing court proceedings or after the adoption of court decisions. The Ombudsman cannot investigate cases of maladministration by national, regional and local governing bodies or institutions.

The European Ombudsman is elected by the European Parliament and reports annually to the EP about his work. This year the Bulgarian MEP Ms Dushana Zdravkova is the Rapporteur on the Ombudsman's 2007 Annual Report. According to data from the European Ombudsman's administration, in 2007 Bulgaria ranked sixth out of the 27 EU Member States in terms of complaints to the European Ombudsman.

Complaints to the European Ombudsman may be submitted electronically via the Ombudsman's website: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu.