Factbox: European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros

ATHENS (Reuters) - European Ombudsman and academic Nikiforos Diamandouros said on Monday he had been approached as a possible candidate to lead Greece's new coalition government.

Here are some facts about Diamandouros:

-- European Union ombudsman since 2003, succeeding Finland's Jacob Soederman, Diamandouros also served as Greece's ombudsman from 1998 to 2003.

-- A professor of comparative politics at the University of Athens, Diamantouros, 69, has been a member of Greece's commission on human rights and a director of the Greek National Center for Social Research.

-- He has PhD from Columbia University and has written extensively on Greek history and politics.

-- Born in Athens, he also speaks English, French and Italian.

-- In 2010 he was re-elected by the European parliament for another four-year term.

-- The European Ombudsman investigates complaints against the institutions and bodies of the European Union.

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos)