The European Ombudsman: A Resilient Institution in a Turbulent Evolving Administrative Order

One of prominent development in the evolving order of the European multi-layered administrative system is the development of the ombudsman into a core institution of governance. At the national level, nearly all European Union member states have introduced an ombudsman. At the supranational level there exists a European Ombudsman (EO) since 1995. This paper sheds light on the strategies with which the EO proves to be able to build its capacity and adjust its institution successfully to the changing political-administrative context. Drawing on analysis of documents and a secondary analysis of previous empirical data, the paper examines the institutional development of the EO over the past two decades. The paper describes first the turbulent expansion of the European administrative system in terms of administrative and accountability institutions. It then focusses on the institutional development of the EO by examining three elements of its accountability capacity, along with the external turbulent environment and political context in which it exist. This internal turbulence to systems may be seen both in the way the system is set up (administrative order) and the way it works (accountability practices).