El Síndic de Greuges

The analysis of the work carried out by the "Síndic de Greuges de Catalunya" (Ombudsman of Catalonia) allows to assess the degree of matching with the expectations that its creation generated as a tool to guarantee the people's rights. To put in relation the task fulfilled with the regulatory framework that makes it possible, the organization that has built and the resources with which has been provided, raises a number of commentaries about the eventuality of modify them to improve the remarkable effectiveness that it has achieved. In this sense, the relationship with the Catalan Parliament to which, keeping independence of judgment and action, provides information for the exercise of its function, deserves a special attention. In a rapidly changing world, also in the public sector, privatization of public services, creation of independent administrative bodies or budgetary constraints, are facts that affect the daily activities of the "Síndic de Greuges". The challenge of how to deal with them in order to continue complying with the institutional mission of defending people¿s rights, is one of the challenges that the book raises. The ability to generate rules of administrative action even though its decisions are not binding, or combine the confidentiality of certain information, to which it has access, with the publicity needed to exercise an influence in a society shaped by media, are some of the difficult balances on which the book gives an opinion.