BackThe Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman, Jørgen Steen Sørensen, has just published the institution´s Annual Report 2018 and as every year the Ombudsman has given many talks on the institution´s work. The talks usually give rise to discussions and questions, mostly about cases the Ombudsman has investigated. But also many questions on what it is really like to be Ombudsman.
In the Annual Report 2018 the Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman also seizes the opportunity and answers some of the most frequently asked questions about his position as an Ombudsman.
When asked about the most difficult thing about being an Ombudsperson, Jørgen Steen Sørensen answers: „It can of course be difficult to find the correct legal answers in the cases. But it is made a great deal easier by highly qualified staff, thorough processes and a good dialogue with the authorities. In my experience, clearly the most difficult thing is prioritising. The Ombudsman institution has just over a 100 staff and covers a public administration with 800,000 employees. It is by no means possible to investigate all cases. So what should I take up, and what should I leave? And how big are the problems I leave, I wonder?“
Moreover the Ombudsman tackles the question if it is possible to be completely politically neutral as an Ombudsperson. According to the Jørgen Steen Sørensen an Ombudsman – just like everybody else – has political opinions but has to leave them at home when going to work. „This is especially important to show in those – not very many but often intensively publicized – cases of political interest. Here, I must be particularly careful to lay out the legal arguments openly so that anybody can test them. And then trust in the outside world to understand that an assessment can well be legal even though it has political consequences“, the Ombudsman states.
Jørgen Steen Sørensen denies the question whether Parliament interferes in the Ombudsman´s cases. He continues: „Once in a while, you may see individual members of Parliament express criticism of the Ombudsman’s work. You have to take that as all in a day’s work – and of course consider whether the criticism is correct. But Parliament never interferes in what cases I should investigate and what results I should arrive at.“
You can find the full report in the Annex.
Source: The Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman
