The creation of the European Ombudsman (EO) in the Treaty on the European Union (EU) was largely an initiative of the Spanish and Danish governments. Concerned with the problem of democratic legitimacy of the EU system, the two countries proposed the ombudsman plan from their own national experiences. However, their motivations differed. The Spanish plan was directly linked with its ambition of European citizenship whereas the Danish proposal was concerned with bureaucratic control of the Community institutions; thus,'two different diseases, the same remedy'. Equipped with the theory of institutional isomorphism (a process of organisational homogenisation), it is argued that for the integration ists, the creation of an ombudsman at the European level is 'moving forward', or an expansive approach to the EU legitimacy problem, whereas for the anti-Europeanists, it is a'fencing off', or a constrictive EU approach. © The Policy Press, 2008.