European Parliament President Martin Schulz has announced the names of six eligible candidates for the post of European Ombudsman in the opening session of the Parliament on Monday.
Schulz said out of eight nominations he had received for the post before the May 8 deadline, six were eligible.
He identified the six as Alex Brenninkmeijer, National Ombudsman of the Netherlands; Markus Jaeger, head of the migration division of the Council of Europe; Emily O'Reilly, National Ombudsman of Ireland; Ria Oomen-Ruijten, a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP); Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, a German MEP; and Francesco Speroni, an Italian nationalist and MEP.
The eligible candidates will be heard by the European Parliament's Petitions Committee on June 18, and the new Ombudsman will be elected at the July plenary session.
The successful candidate will replace sitting European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros, who had recently announced that he would step down in October after ten years in the job.
Notably, the European Ombudsman is responsible for investigating public complaints about the European institutions and various agencies.
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