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Benelux Ombudsmen meet in Luxemburg
The Benelux is a regional intergovernmental cooperation between Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The aim of the Benelux is to strengthen cross-border cooperation and to remain a forerunner within the European Union (Article 350 TFEU). The cooperation was founded on 5 September 1944 in London by the fleeing governments of these countries as a customs union. Till this day it is active and productive on many different topics such as Police, Transport inspections and other cross border cooperation.
It was therefore logical that the ombudsinstitutions from the three member states meet with each other and discuss topics that concerned citizens who either work(ed) or study(ied) cross border, have(had) their pensions from another member states or were otherwise confronted with the authorities of one of the other member states. And so since 2022 the national and regional ombuds institutions of the Benelux have a annual meeting.
This time, Claudia Monti, Ombudsman of Luxembourg, received the National Ombudsman, Reinier van Zutphen, the Federal ombudsmen of Belgium, David Baele and Jérôme Aass, the ombudswoman of the Flemish Ombudsman Service, Myriam Parys, the ombuds woman of the Brussel region, Catherin de Bruecker, the Pensions Ombudsman of Belgium, Tony van der Steen and the ombudsman of Wallonia, the federation of Wallonia/Brussels, Marc Bertrand and their staff.
The latest developments in the Benelux were discussed but the main topic that they focused on was the right to err. Now it is of course divine to forgive those who err, but the legislator and certainly the governments often do not take on this high role. In most cases to make a mistake means that you will be punished for committing fraud. In France this has been addressed in a special law that allows citizens to make a mistake. This right to err, is then transformed into a formal right. But the ombudsman found this too formal, as a proper handling of cases would require that authorities realise someone made a mistake.
The right to err was also discussed with the European Court of Justice of the European Union. The incumbents were received by the President of the Court, Koen Lenaerts and the president of the second chamber, Alexandra Prechal. Their view of this right was that it should be viewed in the context of proportionality. It cannot be acceptable that if you make a mistake when applying for a benefit, one should be forced to pay back all the benefits ever received. The response to a mistake or error, should be proportional. Forgetting a signature, filling in the wrong information, should be pointed out to the applicant but should not automatically lead to such severe consequences.
For a more elaborate report and insight in the meeting, please visit the site of the ombudsman of Wallonia here (in French). Next year the ombuds institutions of the Benelux will meet in Belgium.
Source: The Office of the National Ombudsman of The Netherlands
