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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Closing summaries of cases

Summary of the decision on complaint 1827/2009/(ANA)CK (confidential) against the European Commission (Added on: 23 May 2012)

A Greek citizen submitted an infringement complaint to the Commission alleging, inter alia, that Greece infringed Council Directive 83/183/EEC on tax exemptions applicable to permanent imports from a Member State of the personal property of individuals.

In July 2009, the complainant complained to the Ombudsman alleging that the Commission had not appropriately dealt with his infringement complaint. In particular, he alleged that the Commission, by concluding that the Greek legislation in question fell outside the scope of the Directive, failed to take into account the pertinent Greek legislation and the case-law of the Greek Supreme Administrative Court, developed in light of the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice.

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Summary of the decision on complaint 1623/2009/(BB)(TS)FOR (confidential) against the European Commission (Added on: 21 May 2012)
Access to adverse drug reaction reports (Added on: 14 May 2012)
All summaries...

Press releases

22 May 2012: Ombudsman calls on Commission to rectify deficiencies in Vienna airport investigation

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has called on the European Commission to correct deficiencies in its investigation of complaints against Austria concerning Vienna airport. This follows complaints from 27 Austrian citizens' organisations concerning the absence of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for several airport extensions. During his own investigation, the Ombudsman repeatedly pointed to problems with the EIA, which was eventually carried out retrospectively, including a potential conflict of interest involving the Austrian authorities. Since the Commission failed to act on the Ombudsman's findings, he decided to submit a Special Report to the European Parliament.

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23 April 2012: Ombudsman event: European citizens can tweet their live questions to Barroso, Schulz, Thorning-Schmidt
17 April 2012: Ombudsman investigates whether the Commission should do more to combat increased bee mortality
All press releases...