The report of the Ombudsman “says a lot about society and relationships with institutions,” according to MP Nathalie Oberweis from the Left Party (Déi Lénk), the rapporteur of the Petitions Committee and the one who initiated the debate.
During the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, Ombudsman Claudia Monti raised the issue of public service accessibility. The health crisis and digitalisation “had a pronounced negative effect on accessibility,” Monti said, and “increased disparities between users.” The Ombudsman received 914 complaints in 2020, down 61 from the previous year. The rate of correction was 81.7%.
MP Paul Galles from the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) decided to take a closer look at the situation. While certain ministries, such as the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Education, have correction rates of 100%, others, such as the Ministry of Family Affairs or the Ministry of the Economy, have rates of “just 50% and 40% respectively,” Galles pointed out. However, the MP also acknowledged that the Ministry of Family Affairs had just five complaints overall.
According to Galles, the ministries and municipalities “work quite well with the ombudsman”.
MP Frank Colabianchi from the Democratic Party (DP) believes it is past time for the Ombudsman’s authority to be expanded. This was already requested in the Chamber of Deputies last year, according to Colabianchi. The issue was also raised in the 2018 report, notably in relation to private law entities that carry out a public mission using public funds but are not under the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
This idea is also supported by the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (adr), with MP Fernand Kartheiser saying, “The Committee on Institutions and the Petition Committee must convene and resolve this problem.”
The adr also welcomes the idea of enshrining the role of ombudsman in the constitution.
