Press releases
Parliamentary Ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen and principal legal advisor, substitute for the Deputy Ombudsmen Pasi Pölönen have participated since August 2015 in a project of technical assistance, requested by the Government of Cyprus from the European Commission, to evaluate the functioning of the Cypriot Ombudsman (Commissioner for Administration and Human Rights). This functional review formed one part of a comprehensive evaluation and reform program concerning the public administration in Cyprus, which the Government of Cyprus has agreed to undertake in a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The aim of the functional review was to, e.g., evaluate the independency of the Ombudsman, its current organizational structure, workflows and effectivity, and to present staffing recommendations and recommendations concerning the functioning of the office.
Other members in the Finnish project team were Mrs Eija-Leena Linkola, with background from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Development Manager, Mrs Marika Tammeaid from the State Treasury. The team conducted a scoping visit to the Commissioner's office on 14.-18.12.2015, and presented the scoping visit report to the European Commission. Detailed information about the Commissioner's activities was acquired during the second mission on 1.-5.2.2016.
The Final Report containing an Action Plan was presented in the Commissioner's office on 20.4.2016. Officially the final report was delivered to the Government of Cyprus on 6.5.2016. In the report the review team issued altogether 53 recommendations concerning the legislative framework, re-organization of the office, development of workflows and methods and development of strategic planning.