AUSTRIA | Gertrude Brinek new Chair of the AOB

As of 1 July Ombudswoman Dr. Gertrude Brinek has taken over the chairmanship of the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB) from Dr. Peter Kostelka who held the position since July 2010. Based on its legal foundations the chairmanship of the AOB rotates and changes each year on 1 July. As stipulated in the Rules of Procedure of the AOB Brinek will chair the monthly meetings of the AOB members, will represent the institution and will be responsible for internal administrative issues in the next twelve months.

In a first statement the new Chair emphasises her priorities for the coming year: "The AOB has been efficiently controlling and monitoring public administration for the past 35 years. However, statistics show that citizens' complaints are rather rising. For me this is a clear mandate to communicate with citizens even more intensively in the future. So far, the AOB already holds approximately 280 consultation days per year. In other words, on each working day of the year at least one AOB member is personally available for citizens. I intend to offer even more of these consultation days throughout the coming year."

Brinek stresses that the AOB needs to support citizens even when it is not competent in a case: "In this context I will continue the joint efforts of all AOB members to broaden the mandate of the AOB as regards outsourced public services, such as the Austrian Railways. In the perception of the people, these companies render public services and receive public funding which is why they expect that the AOB would also be competent for complaints. In fact, this is unfortunately not the case. In this respect, the AOB demands the same rights of control just like the Court of Auditors."

Gertrude Brinek finally announces one more priority of her Chairmanship: "The AOB relaunched its website and successfully improved its reporting system last year. In the coming months, the AOB will intensify its target group related communication activities to ensure that the level of awareness among citizens regarding the AOB is further strengthened."