Strasbourg, 15 June 2007

Dear Mr F.,

On 19 August 2006, you made a complaint to the European Ombudsman, on behalf of an association, concerning the European Commission's decision to declare this association in serious breach of contract following an audit of three service contracts signed between the Commission and the complainant.

In your complaint, you alleged that the Commission wrongly issued a decision finding the association to be in a serious breach of contract in the context of audits concerning the execution of the above service contracts. You argued that you provided a great number of documents requested by the Commission.

On 27 September 2006, I forwarded the complaint to the President of the Commission. The Commission sent its opinion on 10 January 2007. In its opinion, the Commission informed me that you had brought a legal action before the Court of First Instance concerning the same facts as those that are the subject of my inquiry.

By letter of 2 February 2007, I forwarded the Commission's opinion to you. I also informed you of the following:

Article 195 of the Treaty establishing the European Community provides that:

"(...) the Ombudsman shall conduct inquiries for which he finds grounds (...) except where the alleged facts are or have been the subject of legal proceedings. (...)".

Furthermore, Article 2(7) of the Statute of the European Ombudsman stipulates that:

"When the Ombudsman, because of legal proceedings in progress or concluded concerning facts which have been put forward, has to declare a complaint inadmissible or terminate consideration of it, the outcome of any inquiries he has carried out up to that point shall be filed definitively."

I invited you to comment on the Commission's opinion taking into account the above-mentioned provisions.

No observations were received from you.

The Ombudsman's services have noted that an application to the Court of First Instance was indeed published in the Official Journal and that this application concerns the same facts as those put forward in your complaint to me.

I have thus decided, in accordance with Article 2(7) of the Statute of the European Ombudsman, to terminate the consideration of your complaint and to file the outcome of the inquiries carried out so far without further action.

The President of the Commission will also be informed of this decision.

Yours sincerely,

 

P. Nikiforos DIAMANDOUROS