DENMARK | Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman becomes new Supreme Court Justice

In September this year, the Danish Supreme Court announced that the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Mr. Jørgen Steen Sørensen, had passed the test required to become a Supreme Court Justice by rendering his opinion in four Supreme Court cases and being assessed by the appointed judges.

This means that the Ombudsman will take up his post as a Justice in the Danish Supreme Court on 1 November 2019.

The Ombudsman subsequently informed the Folketing, the Danish Parliament that he wished to resign as Ombudsman from that same date.

Mr. Jørgen Steen Sørensen has been Parliamentary Ombudsman since 1 February 2012. According the Danish Ombudsman Act, the Ombudsman’s total term of office cannot exceed 10 years. The Danish Parliament is currently in the process of electing a new Ombudsman.

As the Danish representative to The European Commission for Democracy through Law (the ‘Venice Commission’) under the Council of Europe, Mr. Jørgen Steen Sørensen has been involved in the drafting of the Principles on the Protection and Promotion of the Ombudsman Institution (the ‘Venice Principles’).”

Source: Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Denmark