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‘Effective institutions: • 21. The European Council recalls its commitment in support of reforming the Commission’s administration, especially financial and personnel management, in order to enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability and thus ensure the highest standards of public administration. The Commission will present a comprehensive programme of administrative reforms in early 2000. The European Council calls for rapid implementation of these administrative reforms.’ • White Book of 1 March 2000, concerning the reform of the Commission. COM (2000) 200. • Recommendation of the European Ombudsman of 11 April 2000, following an own initiative inquiry into the existence and the public accessibility, in the different Community institutions and bodies, of a Code of Conduct on good administrative behaviour of the officials in their relations with the public. At the EU level, several codes of Good Administrative Behaviour have been accepted.
The actions of EU institutions foster respect for the law in the performance of administrative tasks. The non-judicial function mainly concerns the fight against corruption, which constitutes an infringement on equal treatment. The second concern is the establishment of rules of good administrative behaviour. This second point is directly linked to the role of the Ombudsman appointed by the European Parliament, who reviews complaints relating to maladministration by EU institutions and bodies (article 195 EC Treaty), which can be lodged by any citizen of the Union (article 21 EC Treaty) or by any physical or legal person residing or having its registered office in a member state. The right to apply to the Ombudsman of the Union is written down in article 43 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
(d) European Parliament’s resolutions The European Parliament adopts Annual Resolutions on the Situation of Fundamental Rights in the European Union. In some of these resolutions,7 the European Parliament recommended that codes similar to the code of good conduct proposed by the European Ombudsman be adopted in the near future by all EU institutions and decentralized bodies. It also recommended that the principle of public service neutrality be included in the codes of good conduct adopted by the member states and European institutions, together with the principles of fairness and impartiality which should guide any administration. Finally, several resolutions8 drew attention to the major role played by the European Ombudsman in applying the principle of good administration and access to documents.
5. Sources of the Principle of Human Rights Table 12.1 gives a good overview of the articles from international human rights declarations as well as treaties in which issues of good governance have been reflected: In most situations, the implementation of human rights can only be realized by way of the principles of good governance. In addition to international regulations on good governance and human rights, international human rights courts have also made important contributions to good governance. An example is the case law of the ECtHR, 7 Resolution A5-0050/2000 of 16 March 2000 Report Harder (1998–1999); Resolution A5-0223/ 2001 of 5 July 2001 Report Cornillet (2000). 8 Resolution A5-0451/2002 of 15 January 2003 Report Swiebel (2001) and Resolution A5-0281/ 2003 of 4 September 2003 Report Sylla (2002).
