Gemelli (PPE-DE). – (IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I too would like to express my thanks to Mr Söderman for carrying out the role of European Ombudsman when it was set up and for building it up, brick by brick.

I would like to welcome the new Ombudsman, who is taking on this valuable heritage. As Mrs de Palacio quite rightly said, the previous act is hard to follow, and so we now need to continue to raise the legal and cultural status and, above all, raise public awareness of the Ombudsman.

I must say that we received proof of how wide this awareness is when, at the time of the election of a new Ombudsman, a large number of candidates were put forward to the European Parliament. Parliament then chose Mr Diamandouros, who will have our full support in the process of developing and consolidating the role of the Ombudsman. We certainly need to promote this role in the Member States – my country and many other Member States have no national ombudsman, unlike many other countries – and in the accession countries too.

We are also considering giving our support to the forum initiative, proposed by the European Ombudsman and mentioned by the rapporteur, the Earl of Stockton. The forum should be open at all levels – local, regional and national – and should provide a great opportunity for communicating and exchanging opinions on the running of the institution.

I am extremely pleased that the European Ombudsman has made another proposal too – to include among his responsibilities the enhancement of the system of non-judicial means of redress, not least in order to give substance to relations between the institutions and the citizens. What we need to do now, as I will mention again, given that I am speaking three times today, is to strengthen the bodies which defend and protect citizens’ rights. I believe that Mr Diamandouros will be able to accomplish this task. He has shown very willing and his previous experience as a national ombudsman will stand him in good stead. I would therefore like to express our thanks and our support for his future work.