Decision of the European Ombudsman on complaint 631/97/PD against the European Parliament

Dear Mr A.,
On 25 July 1997 you made a complaint to the European Ombudsman, concerning the decision of the selection board not to allow you to participate in exams under competition PE/25/B, organized by the European Parliament. You alleged having been discriminated.
On 30 July 1997, I forwarded the complaint to the President of the European Parliament. The Parliament sent its opinion on 14 October 1997 and I forwarded it to you with an invitation to make observations, if you so wished. I did not receive observations from you.
I am writing now to let you know the result of the inquiries which have been made.

THE COMPLAINT

It appears that you were an applicant under a general competition, PE/25/B, organised by the European Parliament. After first having refused you access to the written exams under the competition, the selection board reviewed this decision upon appeal and admitted you to the written exams. You participated in the written exams and were subsequently informed that your results were such that you could not be admitted to the oral exams. After having addressed the selection board unsuccessfully, you lodged the complaint with the European Ombudsman, alleging that you had been subject to discrimination. The factual elements on which you base this allegation do not appear from the complaint.

THE INQUIRY

The European Parliament's opinion
In its opinion, the Parliament has stated that each exam paper was corrected by two persons, and in case of a complaint, by a third person. The mark given to your paper was 5 out of 20, while a mark of 12 out of 20 was necessary for passing the exam.
Furthermore, it appears from the enclosures to the Parliament's opinion that the selection board subsequently decided to withdraw its decision to admit you to the written exams on the grounds that the information given in your application was in notorious contradiction with the information that you had given under another competition, organised by the Parliament, PE/11/D.

THE DECISION

On the basis of the information submitted, there appear to be no grounds for the allegation that the Parliament should have treated you in a discriminatory way.
Conclusion
On the basis of the European Ombudsman's inquiries into this complaint, there appears to have been no maladministration by the European Parliament. The Ombudsman has therefore decided to close the case.
Yours sincerely
Jacob SÖDERMAN
Copy:
Mr José-María Gil-Robles, President of the European Parliament
Mr Julian Priestley, Secretary general of the European Parliament