The European Ombudsman Mr. Jacob Söderman and The Human Rights Ombudsman of Slovenia Mr. Ivan Bizjak has co-organised a Seminar on Ombudsman and the Law of the European Union which took place in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, from June 6 to 8, 1999. The aim of the seminar was to promote the knowledge of the European Community law within the ombudsman institutions and similar bodies in the respective states which have applied to join the European Union.

The topics of the seminar has been the experiences of the European Ombudsman from the point of view of the Community law and the legal framework of the European union, some specific aspects of an ombudsman´s work in candidates countries (e.g. problems of transition, the role of an Ombudsman in the harmonisation of legislation), presentation of the work and case law of the Court of Justice and its impact on the domestic law of the member countries, and the question of the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties and their impact on the rights of European citizens and how these rights should be protected.

The seminar was attended by representatives of nine countries aspiring to join the EU, namely Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Rumania and Slovenia, and the European 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 told at the press conference at the end of the seminar. 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.

More about the contributions presented at the seminar you can find here (Collection of written contributions).