P. Nikiforos Diamandouros

The European Ombudsman

Editorial

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to my website! You may have noticed that the website has a new look! The Ombudsman launched a new visual identity on 27 September 2010. The launch coincided with the fifteenth anniversary of the institution. On that same day, the Ombudsman also presented his strategy for the 2009-2014 mandate, which outlines a set of objectives and priorities designed to ensure that EU citizens enjoy their rights fully, and to enhance the quality of EU administration. The strategy is available in the "Resources" section of this website.

The aim of the site is to give you clear, succinct, and easy-to-understand information on what the European Ombudsman can do for you. In addition, you can find out what the Ombudsman has achieved to date, and how to lodge a complaint. The website is regularly updated with press releases, details of upcoming events, publications, and case summaries.

The website also contains an interactive guide in all the 23 official EU languages. On any given day, dozens of citizens receive advice through the guide. It is there to help you quickly identify the most appropriate body to turn to, if you want to lodge a complaint. This service is proving particularly useful for citizens, businesses, and other organisations throughout Europe. As of 5 January 2011, the second anniversary of the interactive guide's launch, more than 45 000 persons had made use of this service.

Even if you do not wish to lodge a complaint, you may be interested in finding out more about the Ombudsman's work of holding the EU institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies to account. The "Cases" section on the website allows you to search through all the Ombudsman's decisions, draft recommendations, and special reports, as well as summaries of cases.

I hope the site will continue to prove a valuable resource for all those who follow the Ombudsman's work. Enjoy visiting it and please feel free to contact me with any feedback or suggestions that you wish to make.

All the best,

P. Nikiforos Diamandouros

The European Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union.

If you are a citizen of a Member State of the Union or reside in a Member State, you can make a complaint to the European Ombudsman. Businesses, associations or other bodies with a registered office in the Union may also complain to the Ombudsman.

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Cases opened

16 February 2012: The composition of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies

1) The Commission failed to ensure that the EGE, in its current composition, is an independent and pluralist body.

2) The Commission failed to provide a satisfactory explanation as to why theology is considered as one of the relevant disciplines for membership of the EGE whereas philosophy is not.

1) The Commission should overhaul the composition of the EGE in order to ensure that it is a truly independent and pluralist body.

2) The Commission should ensure that the criteria used to appoint the members of the EGE are not discriminatory and do not lead to the over-representation of specific religious groups, or religious groups in general.

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09 February 2012: Handling of a complaint concerning allegedly unlawful State Aid
06 February 2012: Handling of the complainant's request for access to documents
All cases opened...

Closing summaries of cases

Refusal to provide information on pension entitlements (Added on: 22 February 2012)

Summary of decision on complaint 1711/2010/BEH against the European Commission

The complaint was submitted by a lawyer acting on behalf of Mr B, who was a member of the European Commission's temporary staff from 1989 to 1994. By paying contributions, Mr B had acquired entitlements to a pension from the EU pension scheme. Given that Mr B left the Commission before having served for a minimum of 10 years, he lost his right to receive a pension from the EU pension scheme but, upon termination of service, he received a severance grant. Considering that the grant consisted of different amounts, in March 2010 the complainant turned to the Commission and asked it to indicate the amount of pension entitlements acquired by Mr B while working with the Commission. In reply, the Commission referred the complainant to a judgment of the Civil Service Tribunal concerning Mr B and stated that no further information could be provided.

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Claim for reimbursement from a university (Added on: 20 February 2012)
Refusal to grant access to a document concerning EU-Russia relations (Added on: 15 February 2012)
All summaries...

Press releases

24 January 2012: Ombudsman achieves friendly solution: NGO receives EUR 70 000 from the Commission

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has helped settle a dispute between the European Commission and the NGO Migration Policy Group (MPG) concerning an EU project launched as part of the "European Migration Dialogue". After an audit, the Commission issued a recovery order for more than EUR 130 000 because MPG had delivered too late supporting documents for staff costs. The Commission eventually accepted a friendly solution proposal from the Ombudsman and refunded EUR 70 000 to the NGO.

Mr Diamandouros commented: "I very much welcome the Commission's positive reply to my friendly solution proposal. Friendly solutions are an excellent tool to achieve win-win outcomes for both complainants and the EU institutions concerned and should be used as often as possible whenever conflicts arise in EU projects or programmes."

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12 January 2012: Ombudsman: Commission needs to review the "Early Warning System"
05 January 2012: Ombudsman welcomes release of adverse reaction reports by European Medicines Agency
All press releases...