EIRP Proceedings, Vol 13 (2018)

Abstract

This work presents outline relevant issues concerning the real involvement of citizens in the decision-making process of the European institutions as well as the control exercised by the European Ombudsman. Institutional development of the EU, increasing the level of integration and awareness of the European identity strengthened significantly by the introduction of European citizenship by the Maastricht Treaty of 1993 have prompted both the European institutions and the European political environment the need to involve European citizens in making decision and creating the premises for a well-defined decisional transparency.

The establishment of the European Ombudsman, a body with the role of investigating complaints by citizens of Member States or residents of the European Union or by associations and undertakings based in the European Union for maladministration by the institutions and bodies of the European Union, in addition to the fact that it is interested in the citizen's perception of the administrative decisions taken by the European institutions and gives the citizens of the Member States the possibility of exercising control over these decisions, regardless of whether these decisions have an economic or political impact on the citizens.