Samenvatting

On 4 February 2011, after a period of 17 years, Migiel van Kinderen took formal leave as the Rotterdam ombudsman. In these 17 years he succeeded in introducing mediation as another and often more effective method of dealing with disputes between citizens and their government, despite the fact that there was no formal basis for settling this type of disputes through mediation. In the interview, the specific characteristics of this ‘ombudslike’ mediation are discussed.