19.04.2023

The parliamentarily elected ombudsmen and police commissioners of the federal states will meet for their annual meeting on 20 and 21 April 2023 in Schwerin. The country's Ombudsman, Matthias Crone, is currently chairman of the Working Group of Parliamentarily Elected Ombudsmen. The conference will be opened by him together with Birgit Hesse, President of the State Parliament. In the afternoon, there will be a consultation on current police issues with Interior Minister Christian Pegel.

The list of topics on the agenda ranges from social law issues, such as citizen's allowance or housing benefit, to police operating conditions. The host Ombudsman, Matthias Crone, sees a particular focus on the consultations on good access to public authority services. He said in the run-up to the event:

"On the one hand, online access to official acts is still underdeveloped. On the other hand, I have been concerned for some time that since the Corona pandemic, general opening hours have been greatly reduced or completely abolished and office hours are only allocated by appointment, often with long waiting times. However, a public office building also includes access for the public that is as unhindered as possible. We will discuss how good access to public services for citizens must look like and how to ensure them," said Matthias Crone.

In addition to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, there are also parliamentarily elected ombudsmen or police commissioners in the states of Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia. They all take part in the Schwerin conference. In Hesse, there are only the legal requirements for this, but no commissioned person yet.