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Ángel Gabilondo: “Citizens have insisted with their complaints that the authorities should not neglect health and essential public services as they are fundamental to a robust, fair and supportive rule of law”

Ángel Gabilondo: “Citizens have insisted with their complaints that the authorities should not neglect health and essential public services as they are fundamental to a robust, fair and supportive rule of law”

03-13-2023

The Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, registered this Monday in the Cortes Generales [Spanish Parliament] the Annual Report on the institution’s activity in 2022 and delivered it to the President of the Congress of Deputies. This is the first report of the current Ombudsman for his first year at the institution’s helm, which he took over at the end of 2021.

According to Ángel Gabilondo, “Citizens have insisted with their complaints, among other things, that the authorities should not neglect healthcare or essential public services, as these are fundamental to a robust, fair, and supportive rule of law. And digitalisation processes must be compatible with face-to-face assistance for people who, due to certain circumstances, find it difficult to access virtual or online communication. In the same vein, I must point out that we have received numerous complaints about the difficulties citizens face in obtaining appointments at Social Security offices and the State Public Employment Service (SEPE)”.

In 2022, the Ombudsman handled 31,452 cases, 2,051 more than in 2021. He received 31,077 complaints -2,062 more than in 2021 – initiated 250 ex officio actions before different authorities and received 125 requests to file appeals of unconstitutionality and legal protection before the Constitutional Court – corresponding to 11 state laws and decrees and five regional laws and decrees. In addition, 37,210 citizens were attended to personally – 36,152 of them through telephone calls and 1,058 in person.

These complaints led to the processing of 2,498 resolutions addressed to different authorities – state, regional and local – of which 739 were recommendations, 1,392 were suggestions, 365 were reminders of legal duties, and 2 were warnings.
Ángel Gabilondo says the report is more agile, brief, and accessible this year. Its protagonists and editors are the citizens, as it portrays their main concerns, constituting a certain X-ray of Spanish society.

The Ombudsman, as high commissioner of the Spanish Parliament and in compliance with his duties, responds to citizens’ concerns, which are registered with the institution, when they consider their fundamental rights violated by an authority, and “from here we work to ensure that the latter – the authorities – rectify or amend situations in which constitutional rights may have been violated”.

 

What have been the issues of most concern to citizens?

 

The issues that citizens reported to the Ombudsman as of most concern in 2022 related to social security and employment, the administration of justice, civil service and public employment, home affairs, education, migration, public services, asylum, health and economic activity.

The 2022 annual report includes, in addition to statistical data, a list of the most important matters in which the institution has intervened and the activity by areas of supervision of public authorities. The report concludes with notes on the National Preventive Mechanism and the mandate given to the institution by the Congress of Deputies in March 2022 to set up an independent commission to prepare a report on allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the role of the public authorities. Work is progressing, testimonies continue to be collected, and work has begun to draft the report, which is intended to be presented to the Congress of Deputies before the end of the legislature.

See Annual Report 2022 (Spanish content)


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