Background to the complaint

1. On 27 July 2018, the European Ombudsman (“the Ombudsman”) received a complaint concerning the European Commission’s (“the Commission”) alleged delay in reimbursing the travel expenses the complainant incurred for participating in a recruitment process organised by DG-ENER in Luxembourg.

2. The complainant claimed that on 19 December 2017 he travelled to Luxembourg for an interview with DG-ENER. Despite having submitted to the Commission the reimbursement form shortly afterwards, he had not yet been reimbursed for your travel expenses.

3. The Ombudsman’s inquiry team contacted the Commission on 13 August 2018 requesting the institution to look into that matter and reimburse the complainant, if it had not done so in the meantime, or at least provide information concerning the status and processing of his reimbursement claim.

4. The Commission’s reply to the complainant was communicated to the Ombudsman’s Office on 3 October 2018. From that reply, it becomes evident that the reimbursement had taken place already on 15 March 2018 but the complainant had not traced it. He had now been able to verify and confirm that that was the case. The relevant correspondence with the Commission’s representative was attached to the institution’s reply.

5. In view of the above, it appears that the Commission committed no maladministration and that no further inquiries are justified in this case.

 

Marta Hirsch-Ziembińska

Head of Inquiries and ICT - Unit 1

Strasbourg, 09/10/2018