The seminar "The Ombudsman and EU Law" has focussed on the ways of settling disputes between individuals, and EU citizens and the Union, on the role of the ombudsman in improving human rights standards and on the harmonisation of national legislation with EU standards. The seminar, which has been organised by the ombudsmen of the EU and Slovenia, Jacob Soederman and Ivan Bizjak, wound up on Tuesday.

It was attended by representatives of ten countries aspiring to join the EU, namely Slovenia, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Rumania and Slovenia, and the Union.

All these EU candidates have been thoroughly adjusting to the EU, which is in the process of changes itself. It will therefore take a lot of effort to promptly adjust to EU provisions and follow the process of EU changes simultaneously, Slovene Ombudsman Ivan Bizjak told a press conference on Tuesday.

The rule of law, the respect of human rights, consolidation of democracy and democratic institutions are huge challenges for the states; the participants in the seminar were of the opinion that the ombudsman can do a great deal to put those tasks into practice by drawing attention to irregularities and by eliminating weaknesses in the system, Bizjak added.

The European ombudsman was established by the Maastricht Treaty, which took effect on November 1993 through 1 May 1999. From its establishment to 31 March 1999, the office received 4055 complaints, but had no jurisdiction over 70 percent of them. The largest number of complaints came from France, Germany and Spain.