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The Ombudsman responds to complaints from EU citizens, businesses and organisations, helping to uncover cases of 'maladministration' – where EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies have broken the law, failed to respect the principles of sound administration or violated human rights.

Parliament elects the Ombudsman for a renewable five-year term. P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, the former national ombudsman of Greece, was re-elected in January 2010 for a five-year term.