Dear Mr X,

On 3 February 2020, you submitted a complaint to the European Ombudsman against the European Commission (Your Europe Advice). The complaint concerned the alleged failure of Your Europe Advice to respond fully to your question concerning the right of free movement.

The Ombudsman has asked me to deal with the complaint and reply to you on her behalf.

I regret to inform you that, based on the information you provided to us, the Ombudsman finds no maladministration.^[1]

In response to your follow-up questions, in which you allege that the reply to your initial question was incomplete and wrong, Your Europe Advice informed you that its legal experts would not reply because the issue had been addressed earlier.  I note that Your Europe Advice responded in a substantive manner to your initial question (question number 293201). It provided you with a comprehensive reasoning and advised you on which steps you could take next. Therefore, I consider it reasonable for Your Europe Advice to consider that they had adequately dealt with your request.

In addition, you argue that you had not received a reply to your final e-mail of 23 January 2020. In accordance with Article 14(3) of the European Code of Good Administrative Behaviour^[2], “No acknowledgement of receipt and no reply need be sent in cases where letters or complaints are abusive because of their excessive number or because of their repetitive or pointless character”. Since Your Europe Advice had replied to your initial question and informed you twice that it would not reply to your follow-up questions, I do not find anything to suggest that the absence of a reply to your last e-mail of 23 January 2020 is maladministration by the European Commission.

As regards the underlying issue of your question addressed to Your Europe Advice, namely, the problems encountered with the MA35 Immigration Office in Vienna, you could consider submitting a complaint to the Austrian Ombudsman (Volksanwaltschaft). If you so wish, you can find more information about the procedure and how to submit a complaint at the following link: https://volksanwaltschaft.gv.at/en.

I realise that this decision will disappoint you, but I hope that the above information and explanations are nevertheless helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Fergal Ó Regan
Head of Inquiries - Unit 2

Strasbourg, 24/02/2020

 

[1] Full information on the procedure and rights pertaining to complaints can be found at https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/document/70707.

[2] The European Code of Good administrative behaviour, available at: https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/publication/en/3510.