News

30 March 2023

Close to 74,500 citizens and representatives of organisations turned to the Ombudsman institution for assistance, protection or help last year; 31,900 of them resorted to collective petitions or complaints in specific cases. This transpires from the 2022 Annual Activity Report of National Public Advocate Diana Kovacheva which was put forward before the National Assembly.

The report data also shows that 25,523 citizens were heard at reception offices organised by the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman in the capital and throughout the country. The complaints lodged in 2022 exceed 15,000 which proves to be an absolute record in the 17 years of history of the institution.

“It is a sad record which has shown us clearly that people find it ever more difficult to meet even their basic needs – food, medicines, to pay their electricity, water and heating bills,” the Ombudsman notes in her introductory address and adds that this demonstrates that the institution has long stopped being a simple post box for complaints but it has built its reputation and gained trust and is also recognised by the citizens as an advocate for their rights.

The statistics in the Annual Report prove the established trend – as is tradition, the complaints related to breaches of consumer rights have the highest share – against public service suppliers and private legal entities – water and sewerage companies and electricity distribution companies, mobile operators, banks, debt collection companies. They make up 30% of all complaints received by the institution. Next come social rights, education and healthcare which are close to 20% followed by complaints about breaches of the right to possession and economic freedoms – 12.35 per cent.

The Public Advocate institution emphasised three new campaigns last year in support of the rights of vulnerable groups of citizens – a campaign for the adoption of legislative measures to protect the rights of people with disabilities, a campaign to support refugees and migrants, and a campaign to adopt legislative measures for protection in cases of domestic violence.

          The Ombudsman explains that, in a situation of constant elections and a brief life of two consecutive national assemblies, three governments – two caretaker ones and one regular government, it was necessary to resort to measures and instruments which were not typical of the Ombudsman so that the citizens could obtain actual support. It is noted that such an instrument is the indirect legislative initiative which the institution employed to the fullest.

“If 2021 was the year of granted constitutional complaints – an instrument with which the Ombudsman protected hundreds of thousands of people against administrative arbitrariness and harassment, 2022 was the year in which the Parliament adopted a number of important laws drafted and tabled by the institution of the National Public Advocate,” Prof. Kovacheva pens in her introductory address. They include two legislative amendments related to resolving the issue with the expiration date of the certificates issued by Territorial Expert Medical Commissions because of which almost 700,000 people with disabilities were left on the brink of survival. These amendments proposed by the Ombudsman were adopted by absolute unanimity by the 47th and the 48th National Assemblies. Another important legislative proposal of the Ombudsman was related to the support for families with children and children with disabilities. An amendment to the Personal Income Tax Act declares the amounts reimbursed by employers to workers and employees who have used tax reliefs for children not to be subject to seizure. Another legislative initiative of the Ombudsman, again supported completely unanimously, put an end to an absolute injustice – the imposition of a compensatory fee of 70 levs or a fine of 300 levs for wrong vignettes. Furthermore, notices for fines to be paid to the Road Infrastructure Agency will now be sent within 3 working days. Another important legislative amendment proposed by the Ombudsman and again adopted unanimously is the prohibition for the offering, sale, including online, and use of laughing gas by minors.

The Report of the National Public Advocate also recalls the fact that the fight of the Ombudsman against monopolies achieved significant success – based on a report and upon the insistence of the Ombudsman to the Minister of Finance, Toplofikatsia [Central Heating Company] Sofia reimbursed more than 3 million levs of unduly collected amounts for VAT to 201,222 households.