Dear Mr X, 

You recently submitted a complaint, on behalf of Asociación De Vecinos por Colmenar Viejo, to the European Ombudsman about how the European Commission handled your complaint.

In your complaint to the Commission, you contended that the decision to close a primary care emergency centre located in Colmenar Viejo violated Articles 21 and 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter). You also contended that, since 2020, there have been serious and repeated infringements of privacy as well as a violation of the protection of personal data belonging to patients, in breach of Article 8 of the Charter.

In your complaint to the Ombudsman, you argue that the Commission’s position on your complaint is not well founded. You contend, in summary, that the issues raised in your complaint to the Commission are related to the application of EU law because Spain manages EU funds aimed at reducing inequalities in healthcare.

After careful analysis of all the information you provided with your complaint, it was decided to close the inquiry with the following conclusion:

There was no maladministration by the European Commission.

The Commission enjoys wide discretion in deciding whether and when to commence an infringement procedure.[1] Its policy on infringements of EU law is set out in its Communication ’EU law: Better results through better application’.[2] The role of the Ombudsman in cases such as these is to verify whether there has been any manifest error of assessment and whether the Commission has provided clear and reasonable explanations.

Based on the information provided in your complaint, there is no evidence that there was any manifest error of assessment by the Commission. The Commission provided clear information on why it considers that your case does not appear to be related to the application of EU law, and its reply is reasonable. As the Commission informed you, the provisions of the Charter are addressed to Member States only when they are implementing EU law. In this regard, nothing suggests that the Spanish regional authorities were implementing EU law when they decided to close the primary care emergency centre located in Colmenar Viejo. There is also nothing to suggest that they were implementing EU law when they displayed data belonging to patients in public spaces. The fact that Spain manages EU funds aimed at reducing inequalities in healthcare does not alter this conclusion.  

I appreciate this may not be your desired outcome, but I hope you find these explanations helpful. Thank you for having contacted the European Ombudsman.

Yours sincerely,

 

Tina Nilsson 

Head of the Case-handling Unit

Strasbourg, 24/07/2025

 

[1] Judgment of the Court of 14 February 1989, Starfruit v Commission, case 247/87, available at: https://eurlex. europa.eu/legal -content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:61987CJ0247.

[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal -content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52017XC0119(01)&from=EN