Activities Council of Europe Within the context of the Vienna conference, an interim report of the 'Group of Wise Persons' of the Council of Europe was presented. This working group was set up by the Council of Europe to discuss and prepare recommendations for relieving the European Court of Human Rights. Although the 14th Additional Protocol to the ECHR (at the time of this report going to print) has not yet come into effect (CETS 194 – Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (Protocol No.14), 13.V.2004), the options included in it for the European Court of Human Rights to process one complaint case out of around 86000 individual complaints within an adequate period does not appear sufficient. The Group of Wise Persons submitted its final report on November 15, 2006 to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CM(2006)203 November 15, 2006). In it, as already in the interim report, the group of experts recommends that the Commissioner for Human Rights aim at a closer cooperation with the ombudsmen, in order to be able to fulfil his expanded duties according to the 14th Additional Protocol to the ECHR. Ombudsman Dr. Kostelka, as Vice President of the International Ombudsman Institute (I.O.I.) arranged for a survey in this respect among all European national ombudsmen, the result of which was discussed with the Commissioner for Human Rights on the occasion of a meeting in Berlin. This meeting served to prepare the 9th Round Table Meeting of the Council of Europe with the national ombudsmen in Athens in 2007. Cooperation with the ECHR The topic was also discussed within the context of the 4th Round Table of European National Human Rights Institutions and the Commissioner for Human Rights in Athens (September 27 - 28, 2006), at which Ombudsman Dr. Kostelka represented the ombudsmen boards, which are granted 'B Status' as national human rights institutions. European Congresses As a guest speaker, Ombudsman Dr. Kostelka took part in the Congress of Chairpersons and Deputy Chairpersons of the Petition Committees of the Federation and the States of the Federal Republic of Germany (April 3 – 4, 2006), the conference on the topic of 'La Difesa civica in Italia e in Europa' (October 16, 2006), held by the regional ombudsman for the Region of Tuscany and the International Conference from November 20, 21 in Skopje, organised in cooperation with the EU (TAIEX – Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument) and the ombudsman of the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Ombudsman Board was also represented by experts at the 'Capacity Building' seminars, within the context of the Eunomia programme from June 1 – 3, 2006 in ('The Ombudsman’s Oversight of the Police') and from September 14 – 16 in Ohrid ('The 21