Complaints to the Ombudsman about Corona measures fell significantly in 2022. There were many petitions for this because of the long processing times in the authorities. The property tax return also caused criticism from citizens.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) - The ombudsman for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Matthias Crone, received more than 1,800 petitions from people in the northeast last year. With the exception of the two Corona years 2020 and 2021, in which 2305 and 1985 concerns were received, this was the highest number of petitions since the Office of the Ombudsman existed, Crone told the German Press Agency.
The number of submissions related to Corona fell from 385 in 2020 and 533 in 2021 to 92. According to Crone, most of them came from the first half of the year. Criticism was therefore mainly leveled at the mask requirement.
In the past year many disabled people turned to the Ombudsman - 880 submissions were received. According to Crone, people complained that the authorities sometimes took a long time to process their requests. He referred to cases of integration assistance for people with disabilities, the creation of participation plans, but also basic security in old age and reduced earning capacity.
The Ombudsman received more than 30 inquiries about the property tax return, the submission deadline for which was extended to the end of January. "The clear focus here was on whether and under what conditions the information can be given on paper forms rather than online," reports Crone. "Many citizens were dissatisfied with the type of implementation, even overwhelmed."
"Apart from technical questions, I received numerous complaints this year about the sometimes very poor accessibility of authorities and about long processing times," Crone continued. In his opinion, after Corona, it would have been time for the authorities to open up extensively. In many cases, this has still not happened, he criticized. "On the contrary: Some offices are even more isolated." However, easily accessible administrations and services are the cornerstones for trust in the state and democracy.
