A delegation from the Petitions Committee concluded a fact-finding visit focused on wolf management and the impact of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) on Austrian forestry industry.

Speaking at the end of the delegation’s visit, Chair Bogdan Rzońca (ECR, PL) said: "We should be very sensitive to the human problems that accompany the daily lives of shepherds, farmers, foresters and entrepreneurs not only in Austria, but throughout the EU. All those who took part in the mission had the opportunity to see on the ground that the issues raised in the petitions touch on security, the economy, employment and tourism, and this will be reflected in our report."

The mission was undertaken in response to multiple petitions submitted by concerned citizens, including mayors and policymakers, regarding sustainable wolf management in agriculture and the economic and environmental consequences of the EUDR.

A delegation of 9 Members of the European Parliament conducted the visit, which included stops in Vienna, Styria and Salzburg. Concerning the presence of wolves, the delegation gathered information on existing protection measures and safety precautions while considering a balanced approach between biodiversity conservation and traditional agricultural practices. Much attention was paid to the need of improving safety measures for inhabitants, tourists and livestock. The delegation discussed the EUDR and its implications for local businesses, small enterprises, and sustainable forestry practices across Europe.

During the visit, MEPs engaged in discussions with petitioners, policymakers, academics, researcher, business owner and NGOs to gather information on the challenges and viable, long-term solutions. Their findings will be compiled into a final report, which will include recommendations.

Members of the delegation

• Bogdan Rzońca (ECR, PL) - Delegation chair
• Elena Nevado Del Campo (EPP, Spain)
• Mireia Borrás Pabón (PfE, ES)
• Kosma Zlotowski (ECR, PL)
• Marcin Sypniewski (ESN, PL)

Accompanying members:

• Alexander Bernhuber (EPP, AT)
• Roman Haider (PfE, AT)
• Stefan Köhler (EPP, DE)
• Beatrice Timgren (ECR, PL)

Human rights in Croatia remain on hold—there has been no significant progress overall, and citizens continue to face numerous severe, sometimes systemic issues, which is unacceptable. This is reflected in the data and analyses from the 2024 Ombudswoman’s Annual Report, submitted to the Croatian Parliament this week by Ombudswoman Tena Šimonović Einwalter and presented today at a press conference.

The most pressing issues are in healthcare, social welfare, and the growing poverty rate. In 2024, one in five people in Croatia was at risk of poverty, the highest rate since 2012. Support for the homeless remains completely inadequate, with no signs of improvement. Older persons are among the most vulnerable—37% of those over 65 are at risk of poverty, rising to 61.4% among those living alone.

These are unprecedented levels of poverty among older persons ever since comparable data became available in 2010, and it is just one aspect of the difficulties they face. Nursing homes are largely inaccessible due to insufficient capacities and high costs, with concerning conditions in some facilities. Additionally, there are no measures enabling employed children or grandchildren to provide care for their elderly and infirm family members.

Complaints regarding the right to health focused on the loss of mandatory health insurance, lack of access to healthcare, long waiting lists, inability to obtain information about one’s medical condition, poor behavior and communication by healthcare staff, and difficulties in the placement of patients who cannot care for themselves due to age or health conditions. The Report highlights particular issues faced by oncology patients and those in palliative care.

Discrimination remains the most frequent complaint, primarily in the field of employment, with race, ethnicity, skin color, and national origin being the most common grounds. Awareness of what constitutes discrimination and how to seek protection remains low. The Roma community continues to struggle with breaking the cycle of poverty, exacerbated by ongoing segregation of Roma children in education. There has also been a rise in unacceptable rhetoric, hate speech, and various forms of anti-minority discourse, partially linked to the three instances of elections in 2024.

Challenges related to the rule of law persist, with poor perception of judicial independence, threats to press freedom, obstacles for human rights defenders, and low public trust in institutions. In protecting whistleblowers, efforts must continue to strengthen a culture of reporting and to ensure that irregularities reported are tied to public interest rather than individual grievances.

Prison overcrowding has worsened, reaching alarming levels, with two prisons exceeding 200% capacity in 2024.

Some positive steps have been made, particularly in housing policy, including the preparation of Croatia’s first strategic housing policy document and several new laws. Amendments to the Act on Foreigners, which better regulate the status of foreign workers while protecting domestic workers from wage suppression, are also a welcome change. However, the impact of these measures remains to be seen.

This is only a fraction of the topics covered in the 2024 Ombudswoman’s Report, which includes a total of 60 topics, such as youth, labor rights, elections, housing, the impact of earthquakes on human rights, the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, asylum seekers and irregular migrants, artificial intelligence, and more.

The Report provides 158 recommendations for improvements, but their implementation depends on the authorities to whom they are addressed, primarily the executive branch.

Unfortunately, the Croatian Parliament has yet to discuss the Ombudswoman’s Reports for 2022 and 2023 in a plenary session, as well as the special 2022 report “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Human Rights and Equality – Recommendations for Strengthening Resilience to Future Crises.” Moreover, the Croatian Government has still not adopted an opinion on the 2023 Report, which is a prerequisite for its parliamentary discussion, and in multiple cases, it has failed to respond to letters from the Ombudswoman highlighting problems affecting many citizens. The Ministry of Health stood out in 2024 for its failure to respond to such communications.

For the Report to have an impact and for the independent institution to fulfill its constitutional role, reports must be discussed in the year they are submitted. Ignoring these reports and the issues that citizens continuously raise with the Ombudswoman is unacceptable.

In 2024, the most common complaints from citizens related to discrimination, the right to health, and labor rights. The Ombudswoman handled a total of 6,404 cases, of which 4,942 were newly initiated.

The Ombudsman has submitted a request to the Constitutional Court for a declaration of unconstitutionality, with general binding force, of article 176-C of the Penal Code, which establishes the crime of ‘acts contrary to sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression’.

The petition argues that this rule, added by Article 4 of Law 15/2024 of 29 January, does not comply with the constitutional requirements of determinability imposed in criminal matters by the principle of typicality (Article 29 of the Constitution). At issue is, in particular, the degree of indeterminacy of the concepts that define the prohibited conduct and the obscurity regarding the role of the consent of those targeted.

The request for a constitutional review also extends, consequently, to the rules contained in articles 69-B, 69-C and 177 of the Penal Code, as amended by Law 15/2024, which establish accessory penalties and cases of aggravation of the penalty for this new crime.

To read the full petition, click here [in Portuguese only].

Hounslow council is refusing to offer a home to a young mother despite making a catalogue of errors which left her homeless and sofa surfing while pregnant.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has recommended London Borough of Hounslow offer the woman and her baby its next available suitable accommodation, because its errors meant she missed out on a number of secure tenancies.

But the local council is refusing to co-operate.

The woman first approached the council in May 2022 as she had been sofa surfing with friends. Over a number of months, Hounslow council:

• Told her she was on the council’s top Band 0 list for a home, despite this banding not existing
• Told her applying as homeless would reduce her chances of getting secure housing
• Asked her to complete five separate questionnaires without being allocated a housing officer
• Failed to respond to numerous requests for information
• Told her that moving out of area would not affect her application, despite this then disqualifying her from its housing register, and leaving her unable to apply to the housing register in her new borough because she has not lived there long enough
• Failed to deal properly with her subsequent complaints

The Ombudsman’s investigation into the woman’s complaint found the council failed to make any inquiries into her homelessness situation.

If it had assessed the woman’s homelessness application when it should have done, evidence shows it would have found she was ‘eligible, homeless, and in priority need’, and it should have provided her with interim accommodation immediately, but it did not. The Ombudsman found it likely the council would have accepted the main housing duty – and so provided her with temporary accommodation (a two-bedroomed self-contained property after the child was born) which would have come with its own right to an appeal, but it did not.

The council also gave the woman incorrect information that led her to believe a homelessness application would negatively impact her position on the list for a social housing tenancy. It told her that any interim and temporary homeless accommodation would likely be outside the borough to discourage her from applying. The Ombudsman found the council did this to avoid its legal duties to the woman as a homeless person.

The investigation also found the council took 77 weeks too long to assess the woman’s housing application. If it had considered her application in time, she would have been able to join the housing register. If it had dealt with her homelessness properly, this would have entitled her to Band 2 priority. The investigation found the woman missed out on several properties offered to people who applied after her.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Ms Amerdeep Somal said:

“Hounslow council has left a vulnerable mother and her child without the security of knowing where she would call home at a particularly desperate time of her life. As a young pregnant person she has been forced to sofa surf despite clear evidence the council owed her a duty.

“All this has had a significant effect on her. She moved into one-bedroom shared accommodation shortly before she gave birth, and remains there to this day. All the evidence shows that if Hounslow had acted correctly, the woman would have had the safety of a social tenancy when her child was born.

“I am disappointed that, by rejecting my recommendation to offer her the next suitable property it has available, the council is failing to fully accept the gravity its incorrect advice and practice has had on this woman and her child.

“I now call on local councillors in Hounslow to do the right thing and accept the recommendation I have made to house her as soon as possible.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman remedies injustice and shares learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case the council should make the woman a direct offer of the next available two-bedroom property that meets her needs, to recognise the missed opportunity to be allocated permanent housing.

The council has not agreed to this recommendation.

The council has, however, agreed to apologise and pay the woman a combined £3,750 to recognise the time she spent in unsuitable accommodation outside the borough and the distress and frustration caused by its failings.

Article date: 17 April 2025