European Ombudsman to retire

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has informed the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, of his intention to retire on 1 October 2013.

In a letter to Mr Schulz, dated 13 March, Mr Diamandouros explained that by the end of March 2013 he will have completed ten years in office as European Ombudsman.

"The time has come for me to look beyond my public life at the European Union level, and to seek to resume my erstwhile role as a scholar and student of, rather than as an actor in, public life, and as an active private citizen.

"After ten wonderful years, during which I have done my utmost best to live up to the trust which the European Parliament so generously placed in me, the time has come for me to look beyond my public life at the European Union level, and to seek to resume my erstwhile role as a student of, rather than as an actor in, public life, and as an active private citizen. In making this choice, I am heartened by the thought that this resumption of my long-standing commitment to scholarship and to active citizenship will be the happy beneficiary of the profoundly enriching impact which my years as European Ombudsman have had on my thinking and, indeed, life experiences."

Diamandouros thanked Mr Schulz as well as his predecessors for the trust, confidence, and broad support that the European Parliament and, particularly, its Committee on Petitions, have granted him in his role as guardian of good administration, and in his efforts to promote accountability, transparency, and a culture of service in the EU administration. He invited the President to launch the procedure for the election, by the Members of the European Parliament, of a new European Ombudsman.

Diamandouros was born on 25 June 1942 in Athens, Greece. After a long career as a professor of political science in the United States and Greece, he became the first National Ombudsman of Greece in 1998. In January 2003, the European Parliament elected him to the post of European Ombudsman. Parliament renewed his mandate in 2005 and 2010.