The issue in this complaint is the alleged failure of the European Commission, in appointing a Special Adviser, to abide by its own rules on preventing conflicts of interest.

In September 2015, two NGOs complained to the Ombudsman that the Commission had failed to comply with its Rules when it appointed a Special Adviser to assist the Commission President. The Commission issued a press release on 18 December 2014 announcing the appointment of Mr Edmund Stoiber as a Special Adviser to the Commission President. This announcement was made three months before Mr Stoiber was officially appointed on 4 March 2015, without any disclaimer about the pending administrative requirements still to be fulfilled. The complainants argued that this premature announcement compromised the Commission's capacity to conduct an unbiased and critical assessment of whether the person in question had any conflicts of interest. They complained also that the Commission's "statement of assurance", an essential part of the appointment process, failed to mention the positions the Special Adviser held with Nürnberger, a large insurance group.  

The Ombudsman inquired into the issue and found that the Commission's press release was incorrect and misleading. The Ombudsman also found that the premature announcement of the appointment, without any disclaimer, raised legitimate doubts for the interested public as to whether an unbiased and critical examination of the conflict of interest question had been carried out following the announcement. The Ombudsman found maladministration by the Commission on both counts. The Ombudsman also found that the Commission had failed to explain why the positions of the appointed Special Adviser in the insurance group were omitted from the "statement of assurance". She found that this also amounted to maladministration.