Te¤Iko A΅΅¤Iko 1999

THE GREEK OMBUDSMAN Annual Report 1999 ABRIDGED ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION The 1999 Annual Report was written by the staff of the Office of the Ombudsman, English language edition and compiled and edited by: Office of the Ombudsman editors: Christos Adam Eftychis Fytrakis Christos Adam Chrysa Hatzi Panayotis Alexopoulos Katerina Kalliontzi Chrysa Hatzi Maria Liadi Rena Papadaki Kyriakos Loukakos Susannah Verney Kalliopi Lykovardi Kalliopi Patsava Zina Asimakopoulou, Miltiadis Pavlou Dawn Kerridge and Maria Psaltaki Dimitris Veremis Anastasia Topalidou also assisted in the Panagiotis Tsakanikas present edition. Michalis Tsapogas Translation Printed in Greece by the National Printing House Statistics John Chapple in October 2004 in Christos Adam Copy editors 1,000 copies. Thanasis Grivas Tilla Bali Miltiadis Pavlou © THE GREEK OMBUDSMAN Ioanna Meitani Marios Protopappas 5, Hadjiyanni Mexi St. Michalis Tsapogas 11528 Athens, Greece Art direction Tel.: +30 210 7289600 Secretarial support Anna Katsoulaki Fax: +30 210 7292129 Eleanna Galati www.synigoros.gr Vaso Papageorgiou Production Dimitra Piperoglou Memigraf ISBN 960-86731-5-1 THE GREEK OMBUDSMAN Annual Report 1999 ABRIDGED ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION ATHENS NATIONAL PRINTING HOUSE Acronyms Most of the acronyms used in this book are transcriptions of the Greek acronyms. DIKATSA Diapanepistimiako Kentro Anagnorisis Titlon Spoudon Allodapis (Inter-University Centre for the Recognition of Foreign Academic Titles) ECRI European Commission against Racism and Intolerance EOT Ellinikos Organismos Tourismou (National Tourism Organization) EU European Union EYDAP Etaireia Ydrefsis kai Apohetefsis Protevousis (Athens Public Water Supply and Sewage Company) GLK Geniko Logistirio tou Kratous (State General Accounting Office) IKA Idryma Koinonikon Asfaliseon (Social Security Organization) IOI International Ombudsman Institute OAED Organismos Apascholisis Ergatikou Dynamikou (Manpower Employment Organization) OGA Organismos Georgikon Asfaliseon (Agricultural Insurance Fund) OTE Organismos Tilepikoinonion Elladas (Greek Telecommunications Organization) TAE Tameio Asfaliseos Emporon (Merchants’ Insurance Fund) TANPY Tameio Asfalisis Naftiliakon Praktoron kai Ypallilon (Shipping Agents and Employees’ Insurance Fund) TEAYEK Tameio Epikourikis Asfalisis Ypallilon Emporikon Katastimaton (Supplementary Insurance Fund for Retail Employees) TEE Tehniko Epimelitirio Elladas (Technical Chamber of Greece) TSMEDE Tameio Syntakseos Mihanikon kai Ergolipton Dimosion Ergon (Engineers and Public Works Contractors’ Pension Fund) VOR Visual omnirange Contents A. INTRODUCTION 11 B. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 17 1. Structure of the report 19 2. Synopsis of the report 20 3. Activities by Department 22 C. LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND OPERATION 27 D. OVERALL ASSESSMENT FOR THE YEAR 1999 31 1. Statistical data 33 2. General conclusions 41 E. EVALUATION OF ACTIVITIES BY DEPARTMENT 43 1. Department of Human Rights 45 2. Department of Social Welfare 75 3. Department of Quality of Life 105 4. Department of State-Citizen Relations 137 F. USE OF STATUTORY POWERS 169 G. OUTREACH ACTIVITIES 173 H. INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES 177 I. APPENDICES 181 1. Founding law of the Greek Ombudsman 183 2. Curricula vitae of the Greek Ombudsman and the Deputy Ombudsmen 191 3. Personnel list 195 IntroductionA INTRODUCTION HIS REPORT PRESENTS THE ACTIVITIES of the Greek Ombudsman during the T year 1999. Since the 1998 report covered only the first three months of the institution’s operation (October–December), the present report is the first to contain data covering a period of time that is sufficiently long as to allow us to reach more accurate conclusions and to make comparisons, either with earlier conditions in Greece or with other countries. For the most part, the institution’s targets during 1999 were the same as those in 1998. In my inauguration speech, I stressed that five basic factors were required for the institution to succeed: 1) physical infrastructure, 2) high-quality staff, 3) legitimization in the eyes of both the administration and the public, 4) active support from the country’s political leadership, 5) acceptance and support from the media. Last year’s experience has shown that, on the whole, most of these targets were reached. In general, citizens and public services both responded positively to the new institution. The public’s positive response is evident in the daily communications between citizens and the staff of the Greek Ombudsman, as well as in the great number of thank- you letters citizens have sent to express their appreciation for how their cases were handled. A similar response from the public administration was the result of an improvement in relations between the Office and all levels of the administration. The media has taken an equally positive attitude towards the Ombudsman. Throughout the year, both print and electronic media gave the institution increasing coverage. The quality of our information technology infrastructure, which enables our Office to be completely computerized, is also high and makes it possible for the Ombudsman to respond to citizens’ petitions quickly, fully, and effectively. Finally, the pertinent provision in his founding law has enabled the Ombudsman to continue to attract staff of high academic and professional qualifications. At the end of the year, all of the professional staff held undergraduate degrees, while 62.7% held doctorates or other postgraduate degrees. The attitude of the country’s political leadership towards the institution deserves particular mention. On the one hand, as shown by a series of meetings between the Ombudsman and the country’s political leadership, acceptance of the institution has been positive. Recent illustrative examples of this acceptance include, first, the notably broad consensus among political parties in Parliament in the debate concerning the proposed incorporation of the institution into the Constitution, by the Parliament issuing from the elections of the year 2000; second, the broad majority with which the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Institutions and Transparency accepted the 1998 report of the Greek Ombudsman; and, third, the decision by the Prime Minister to send a letter to those of his ministers who oversee departments and services falling within the Ombudsman’s mandate, requesting them to take all necessary measures to ensure the adoption of the Ombudsman’s proposals for legislative amendments and organizational changes, issuing from complaints submitted to the Ombudsman and designed to contribute to the improvement of public administration in Greece. 13 This positive picture has to be set within the following context. In essence, 1999 was the first year since the establishment of the authority, and also the first in which ministers received proposals from the Ombudsman concerning legislative amendments and administrative reforms. The absence of such proposals from the previous year and the inevitably long time it takes to consider and act on this type of proposals meant that, particularly for 1999, the Ombudsman did not have sufficient evidence of how the public administration responded to the institution’s proposals, on the basis of which to reach valid conclusions concerning the degree of support for the institution in practice. The few examples available at the end of the year suggested a picture in which fast and effective action leading to a satisfactory number of essential improvements in regulations coexisted with a complete lack of response on the part of certain services. The new “generation” of proposals included in the present report will help create a critical mass of cases. This development will make it easier to draw safer conclusions about the Office’s ability to ensure the cooperation of the political leadership in solving complex problems, and, in the process, to demonstrate its effectiveness and, ultimately, enhance its credibility and legitimacy. One of the most important developments of 1999 arose from the discovery of opportunities and challenges which entailed, in practice, the gradual activation of the mechanisms of monitoring and mediation provided for in the founding law of the Greek Ombudsman. This enabled the staff of the Ombudsman to make creative and inventive use, always within the framework of legality, of possibilities for intervention that proved to be particularly effective in resolving differences, establishing channels of communication, and building relations of trust with a broad range of departments in the public administration. In general, the potential for further utilizing these possibilities for intervention and the opportunities generated by the dynamic of the institution’s development constitute a great challenge for the Ombudsman. The basic target for the year 2000 is to strengthen and refine the mechanisms, procedures, and practices for control and mediation which were initially introduced during 1999 and have in principle proved effective. In other words, the target for the year 2000 is the qualitative upgrading of the mediatory and monitoring tools at the disposal of the Ombudsman, in order to further improve both the services provided to the public and the Ombudsman’s ability to present the administration with increasingly efficacious proposals for solving problems. An equally important priority for the following year is the formulation of a clear communication policy for the Greek Ombudsman, which should have a dual target: on the one hand, to systematically reach out to the public throughout

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