Rechercher des enquêtes

The case concerned the timeliness of the Commission’s action in dealing with a state aid complaint concerning the durum wheat sector in Italy. The complainant claimed that, two years after the submission of his complaint, the Commission had not reached a final decision on the case.

The Ombudsman inspected the Commission’s file on the case and obtained further clarifications during a meeting.

The Commission explained how it had proceeded based on its internal rules and procedures. It also explained the reasons for the delays it had incurred. The Ombudsman found that there was no evidence that the Commission had neglected the file in any way or that there had been unfounded postponements in its handling of the matter.

The Ombudsman thus closed the inquiry, finding that there was no maladministration in how the Commission has been handling the complainant’s state aid complaint.

The case concerned the European Commission’s failure to take a timely decision on a state aid complaint made by a Slovenian telecommunications company.

The Ombudsman regrets that it took the Commission some nine years after having received the complaint to determine that the complainant was not an interested party. While a certain amount of time may be required to come to such a conclusion, nine years is excessive, even in a case that the Commission has determined is not a priority.

The Ombudsman acknowledges that the Commission was not inactive during this period as it engaged in extensive exchanges with the complainant and the national authorities and addressed all the arguments raised by the complainant.

As the Commission has now finalised the analysis of the state aid complaint, the Ombudsman concludes that no further inquiries into this complaint are justified and closes the case.