Compensation payment

The Commission agreed to pay compensation of EUR 56 000 to a French journalist after the Ombudsman found that it had failed to respect the complainant's reasonable expectations. The Commission had cancelled its financial contribution to the complainant's project four weeks before it was due to take place.

Refusal of Council to meet in public

The Ombudsman submitted a special report to the European Parliament after the Council failed to give valid reasons for refusing to meet in public whenever it is acting in its legislative capacity. The Ombudsman's inquiry followed a complaint from the German MEP, Mr Elmar BROK, in which he alleged that the Council's Rules of Procedure are not in conformity with the Treaty on European Union, according to which the Council and the other Community institutions and bodies must take decisions as openly as possible.

Misleading statements made by OLAF

The Ombudsman sent a special report to the European Parliament concerning statements that the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) made in the context of an inquiry he carried out. The inquiry concerned allegations of bribery, made by OLAF, that were likely to be understood as directed against a particular journalist. The journalist then submitted a complaint to the Ombudsman, alleging that the information provided by OLAF was liable "to mislead the European Ombudsman and to manipulate the inquiry". In his special report, the Ombudsman recommended that OLAF acknowledge that it had made incorrect and misleading statements.

Late payment

The Commission settled a case of late payment to a German science journalist, explained the reasons for the delay and agreed to pay interest. It confirmed that it had, in the meantime, taken measures to accelerate payments to experts. The complainant subsequently pointed out that he had been paid within only 30 days for services rendered under his latest contract.

Abolition of age limit for trainees

The Commission abolished the age limit of 30 years as one of the selection criteria in its in-service traineeship programme. This followed a complaint concerning the rules governing the programme. The Ombudsman noted that several other Community institutions and bodies apply an age limit in their traineeship programmes. He therefore announced that he would launch an own-initiative inquiry into these programmes.

Problems with access to documents

The Ombudsman criticised the Council for failing to deal with a request for public access to documents properly and carefully. This followed an inquiry which revealed that, contrary to the Council's initial response to the complainant concerning the number of relevant documents, many additional documents in fact existed. As a result of the Ombudsman's investigation, the complainant was given access to the additional documents.