For the loss of Ion Sayas

Date of article: 16/07/2020

Daily News of: 23/07/2020

Country:  Greece

Author:

Article language: en

ANNOUNCEMENT For the loss of Ion Sayas John (Ion) Sayas held the crucial post of the Deputy Ombudsman responsible for environmental and quality of life issues, since 2011. He studied Development Economics and Urban and Regional Planning at the London School of Economics and obtained a PhD from of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens. From 1998 to 2004 he worked as a Researcher at the Institute of Urban and Regional Sociology of the Greek National Centre for Social research. Since 2004 he had been a member of the academic staff at the Department of Geography and Regional Planning, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, were he taught at a graduate and post graduate level. He has been scientific director and principal investigator in many research projects dealing with the spatial and socio-economic impacts of development at urban and regional level. Ion Sayas has been very dear to all of us who had the honor to know him and work with him. We are devastated for his loss. Our deepest condolences to his family. Statement of the Greek Ombudsman, Andreas Pottakis Professor Ioannis (Ion) Sayas took up the position of the Deputy Ombudsman responsible for the quality of life in 2011. Since then, he determined the course of the Independent Authority for about a decade, a period during which the protection of the environment -urban, suburban, natural, cultural-, the standard of living and the daily life of the inhabitants of Greece were tested as never before. With persistence, dedication to documentation and faith in the mediating role of the Ombudsman, he served as a catalyst towards the search for lawful, realistic and sustainable solutions to a number of cases of major interest as well as to systemic problems managed by the Authority during this period. At the same time, with similar diligence, he coordinated the work of the Ombudsman for resolving individual cases and disputes of the citizens. My collaboration with Ionas was for me an invaluable gift, a unique privilege. Our conversations were an inexhaustible source of inspiration. A profound connoisseur and defender of the institution, a man of rare culture, he continued with undiminished intensity, faith and passion to be a visionary, irreconcilable and relentlessly romantic. ...
 
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Erstes Halbjahr 2020: Stark im Zeichen des Corona-Virus

Date of article: 16/07/2020

Daily News of: 23/07/2020

Country:  Germany - Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Author:

Article language: de

Bürgerbeauftragter für Lockerungen bei Einreiseverbot für Tagesgäste

Die Corona-Pandemie prägte stark die Arbeit des Bürgerbeauftragten im ersten Halbjahr 2020. „Hunderte von Anrufen und Bürgerkontakten und auch 280 echte Eingaben betrafen seit März dieses Thema. Aber andere Fragen gab es auch“, erklärte der Bürgerbeauftragte Matthias Crone in seinem Rückblick auf das erste Halbjahr 2020. Insgesamt seien in den ersten sechs Monaten 1.114 Eingaben eingegangen (Vorjahr: 932). „Die Zahl ist ein Spitzenwert. Aber es ist ja auch eine große Krise über uns gekommen. Die Situation verlangte besondere Maßnahmen. Hier galt es viel zu erklären, zu vermitteln, nachzufragen. Und auch Kritiken und Unklarheiten waren und sind gegenüber der Landesregierung zu kommunizieren“, sagte Crone.

Der Bürgerbeauftragte erläuterte, dass ein großer Teil der Eingaben und Anfragen mit Corona-Bezug sich auf die Einreisebeschränkungen nach Mecklenburg-Vorpommern bezogen. Noch immer gebe es Kritik: „Das Grundrecht auf Freizügigkeit in Deutschland darf nur eingeschränkt werden, wenn es erforderlich ist. Man kann aber jetzt nicht mehr behaupten, dass etwa Tagesgäste aus Brandenburg durch Einkauf oder Stadtbummel in M-V eine Seuchengefahr erzeugen. Die bisherigen Lockerungen zeigen ja, dass nicht das Reiseaufkommen entscheidend ist, sondern das Verhalten. Einreiseverbote in diesem Umfang erzeugen nur Verdruss, Ärger mit unseren Nachbarn und fördern eine Mentalität der Abschottung. Hier müssen wir unser Herz weit machen und mehr Tagesgäste zulassen, etwa aus den Nachbarregionen.“

Knapp die Hälfte, nämlich 504, aller Anfragen, Bitten und Beschwerden bezog sich auf soziale Anliegen; darunter waren 83 mit Corona-Bezug. Das Besuchsrecht in Pflegeheimen und besonderen Wohnformen für Menschen mit Behinderung habe, so Crone, eine wichtige Rolle gespielt. Die zeitweise notwendige Abschirmung in den Einrichtungen habe vielen zu schaffen gemacht. „Die Abwägung zwischen Sicherheit und Besuchsrecht, zwischen körperlicher und seelischer Gesundheit ist nicht leicht. Ich begrüße es, dass Besuch und Betreten von Pflegeeinrichtungen und Werkstätten für Menschen mit Behinderungen im Grundsatz jetzt wieder erlaubt sind. Es ist gut, dass Hinderungsgründe jetzt dargelegt und amtlich geprüft werden müssen.“

Der Bürgerbeauftragte würdigte den besonderen Einsatz in vielen Teilen der Verwaltung und der Daseinsvorsorge während der akuten Pandemie-Phase. „Gerade in der Arbeitsverwaltung, bei der Auszahlung von Soforthilfen, in Gesundheit-und Pflegeeinrichtungen mussten zeitweise hohe Anforderungen oder Fallzahlen bewältigt werden. Das muss man hoch anerkennen. Es hat aber auch in Behörden zuweilen übergroße Zurückhaltung bei der Öffnung für die Bürger gegeben. Jetzt müssen direkte Gespräche und Vorsprachen an sich überall wieder möglich sein“, forderte Crone.

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Participation of CHR in the hearing before the European Court of Justice in the case concerning nominations of Supreme Court judges

Date of article: 16/07/2020

Daily News of: 23/07/2020

Country:  Poland

Author:

Article language: en

On Monday, 6 July 2020, a hearing at the Court of Justice in Luxembourg took place before the Grand Chamber concerning the process of appointment of judges of the Supreme Court (Case C-824/18 A.B. and others). The main question raised in this case is whether the limitation of the effectiveness and then the complete exclusion (in 2018) of the possibility to appeal against the new NCJ appointments is compatible with the EU principle of effective legal protection.

The proceedings were initiated by preliminary questions submitted by the Supreme Administrative Court as a result of appeals filed by those candidates for judges to the Supreme Court, whom the new NCJ refused to recommend. Despite the decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court suspending the execution of NCJ resolutions, they were passed on to the President of the Republic, and the candidates nominated in them received the acts of appointment as Supreme Court judges. The appointments were therefore made in violation of the law, based on non-final and unenforceable motions of the NCJ, and the candidates who received negative opinions of the Council were prevented from carrying out a genuine judicial control of the appointment process. First, already during the selection procedure, the rules were changed and the effectiveness of the appeal (if later admitted) and the reversibility of the situation were radically reduced. Then, the possibility to appeal against NCJ resolutions recommending nominees to the Supreme Court was entirely abolished and the appeal proceedings already pending before the NSA were ordered to be discontinued by law. It appears that the nomination process from 2018 onwards was intentionally designed to ensure that only those supported by political authorities would become judges of the Supreme Court.

The Commissioner for Human Rights who joined the national case pending before the Supreme Administrative Court is also a party to preliminary proceeding before the European Court of Justice. During the hearing, the discussion focused on the extent to which the qualification procedure to the Supreme Court was covered by the principle of effective legal protection (Article 19(1)(2) TEU) and the impact of the lack of judicial review on the independence and impartiality of judges. The key issue to which the ECJ should respond is to indicate to the referring court the manner of further proceedings, which in turn involves determining whether and, if so, to what extent the principle of effective judicial protection has a direct effect.

The Commissioner’s position in this case was presented at the hearing by Maciej Taborowski, Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights. The basic theses of the submissions can be summarised as follows:

  • We are not claiming that Art. 19(1)(2) TEU requires the establishment of a uniform model for the judicial review of the process of appointing judges in all Member States. However, States must, in the light of Article 19 TEU, provide conditions to exclude any reasonable doubt as to the independence of the appointed judges (formula from the ECJ judgment of 19 November 2019 in C-585/18, C-824/18 and C-825/18 A.K. and Others). For this purpose, they may but are not obliged to introduce judicial review of the procedure for appointing judges.
  • The specific features of the legal system of a particular Member State may result in that the exclusion of such control may constitute an infringement of Article 19 (1) (2) TEU. Polish law creates a general right to appeal against NCJ resolutions (judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal in Case SK 57/06). This right is not a consequence of the requirements of Article 19(1) (2) TEU itself, but it is rooted in the domestic law.

...

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Annual Report 2019/20

Date of article: 13/07/2020

Daily News of: 23/07/2020

Country:  United Kingdom - Wales

Author:

Article language: en

We have now laid our Annual Report 2019/20. We are glad to report some trends that could indicate improvement in practice by bodies in our jurisdiction.

Find out more about our work during the last year in the full report, executive summary or Easy Read.

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“Afectados por Dentix Canarias” piden ayuda al Diputado del Común

Date of article: 21/07/2020

Daily News of: 23/07/2020

Country:  Spain - Canary Islands

Author:

Article language: es

El Diputado del Común, Rafael Yanes, se reunió con el presidente de la Plataforma de Afectados por Dentix Canarias, Saúl Álamo, que denunció la insolvencia de estas clínicas dentales producto de la crisis y de “su debilidad financiera”. Por consiguiente, pidió a Yanes su colaboración para dar visibilidad a este problema y dar a conocer las distintas vías de comunicación que esta pla...

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