Civil Society Media Seminar 2013 address by The European Ombudsman Emily O‘Reilly 25 November 2013

European Ombudsman Civil Society Media Seminar 2013

European Ombudsman Civil Society Media Seminar 2013 "Think like a wise man, but communicate in the language of the people." William Butler Yeats 1865 – 1939

European Ombudsman Civil Society Media Seminar 2013 “Gobbledygook may indicate a failure to think clearly, a contempt for one's clients, or more probably a mixture of both. A system that can't or won't communicate is not a safe basis for a democracy.” Michael Shanks former chairman to the National Consumer Council of Great Britain

European Ombudsman Civil Society Media Seminar 2013 “The EU is a community under the rule of law, and, whatever its present challenges, it is a community that has promoted democracy, peace and prosperity across Europe over the past half century. The rise of Eurolegalism may bring with it an excess of law, lawyers and litigation, but we may simply have to accept this as a small price to be paid to maintain European unity.” R. Daniel Kelemen Professor of Political Science Rutgers University

European Ombudsman Civil Society Media Seminar 2013 “Reading some judgments one rather loses the will to live – and this is particularly disconcerting when it’s your own judgment that you are reading.” Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury President of the Supreme Court of the UK

“In summertime village cricket is the delight of everyone. Nearly every village has its own cricket field where the young men play and the old men watch. In the village of Lintz in County Durham they have their own ground, where they have played these last 70 years. They tend it well. The wicket area is well rolled and mown. The outfield is kept short. It has a good club house for the players and seats for the onlookers. The village team play there on Saturdays and Sundays. They belong to a league, competing with the neighbouring villages. On other evenings after work they practise while the light lasts. Yet now after these 70 years a judge of the High Court has ordered that they must not play there any more. He has issued an injunction to stop them. He has done it at the instance of a newcomer who is no lover of cricket.“ Lord Denning 1899 – 1999 European Ombudsman Clear Writing Awards 2013

European Ombudsman Civil Society Media Seminar 2013 “I don’t think there’s anybody in this room who has read [the Treaty of Lisbon] cover to cover. I don’t expect ordinary decent Irish people will be sitting down spending hours reading sections about sub-sections referring to other articles and sub-articles, but there is sufficient analysis done and people have put together a consolidated text which is quite easy to read …” Charlie McCreevy Former European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services 2004–2010

European Ombudsman Civil Society Media Seminar 2013 The complementarity between the Agenda and both the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy and the sustainable development strategy makes it necessary to ensure close dovetailing with other Community policies on the internal market, industry, competition and trade. This approach implies taking full account of social and employment dimensions in other Community policies, and vice versa. The integrated Impact Assessment tool developed by the Commission provides a valuable methodological contribution. Accordingly, the Agenda draws its inspiration from the Constitutional Treaty, which proclaims the importance of an integrated approach. (From a Communication from the European Commission on the Social Agenda)

European Ombudsman Civil Society Media Seminar 2013 (From Article 272.5b of the Treaty establishing the European Communities)