The three cases concerned how the European Commission applied its Better Regulation rules and other procedural requirements when preparing legislative proposals concerning corporate sustainability due diligence (983/2025/MIK), countering migrant smuggling (2031/2024/VB) and the Common Agricultural Policy (1379/2024/MIK). The Commission considered these proposals to be urgent and, therefore, omitted steps foreseen in its rules, such as impact assessments and public consultations. The complainants, which are civil society organisations, considered these omissions to be in breach of the Commission’s Better Regulation rules. In two cases, the complainants also argued that the Commission failed to assess the legislative proposals’ consistency with the EU’s climate goals, as required by the European Climate Law. In one case, the complainant was further concerned that the Commission breached its Rules of Procedure on inter-service consultations.

Based on her inquiries, the Ombudsman found procedural shortcomings in how the Commission prepared the legislative proposals in question, which, taken together, amounted to maladministration. To address these shortcomings, the Ombudsman recommended that the Commission ensure a predictable, consistent and non-arbitrary application of its Better Regulation rules, by defining ‘urgent’ situations that justify a derogation from their requirements, as well as by recording and explaining the reasons for any derogations granted. Furthermore, where derogations are granted, the Commission should establish a procedure to ensure that the urgent preparation of legislative proposals still complies with the principles of a transparent, evidence-based and inclusive law-making process. To assist the Commission in this task, the Ombudsman also made four suggestions for improvement, which included: clarifying its stakeholder consultation rules for urgent proposals; ensuring that the analytical documents replacing impact assessments and outlining the evidence supporting its proposals are published in a timely manner to enable a public debate before the legislation is adopted; issuing guidance on implementing climate consistency assessments; providing and recording justifications when shortening inter-service consultation periods below established thresholds.

In its reply to the Ombudsman, the Commission agreed to reflect on defining ‘urgent’ situations during the upcoming revision of the Better Regulation rules, as well as to record and publish the reasons for applying any derogations from their requirements. The Commission also committed to ensure targeted consultations on its ‘urgent’ proposals, to publish the analytical documents with evidence supporting its proposals within three months of adoption, to include climate consistency assessments in both analytical documents and explanatory memoranda for future proposals and to provide justifications for shortened inter-service consultations.

The complainants, in their comments on the Commission’s reply, considered that the Commission’s commitments are neither clear nor concrete enough to guarantee a transparent, inclusive and evidence-based law-making process.

The Ombudsman welcomed the overall constructive reply of the Commission to her recommendations and suggestions for improvement. That said, the Commission’s response does not yet provide sufficient clarity on the concrete steps it intends to take to implement the Ombudsman’s recommendations and suggestions for improvement.

The Ombudsman will therefore monitor this matter based on future complaints and once the Commission has finalised the revision of the Better Regulation rules. At this stage, no further inquiries are justified, and the Ombudsman closed the three cases.

L-ilmentatur ħadem bħala espert għal kuntrattur estern tal-UE fuq proġett iffinanzjat mill-UE fit-Tanzanija ġestit mid-Delegazzjoni tal-Unjoni Ewropea għat-Tanzanija u l-Komunità tal-Afrika tal-Lvant. L-ilmentatur sostna li l-kuntrattur kiser il-liġi tat-Tanzanija billi naqas milli jirreġistra fit-Tanzanija, u b’hekk ma ħalliehx jikseb permess tax-xogħol validu. Sussegwentement, il-kuntrattur informa lill-ilmentatur bid-deċiżjoni tiegħu li jittermina l-kuntratt tiegħu, filwaqt li qies it-tħassib dwar il-ħidma tal-ilmentatur imqajma mid-Delegazzjoni tal-UE.

L-Ombudsman fetħet inkjesta dwar it-tħassib tal-ilmentatur dwar kif id-Delegazzjoni ttrattat iż-żewġ kwistjonijiet. F'dan ir-rigward, l-Ombudsman irreferiet għall-fehma konsistenti tagħha li, meta l-istituzzjonijiet tal-UE jfittxu s-sostituzzjoni ta' esperti li jaħdmu fuq proġetti tal-UE, dawk l-individwi għandhom jinstemgħu qabel ma jiġu sostitwiti. Filwaqt li l-Kummissjoni argumentat li ma talbitx is-sostituzzjoni tal-espert, l-Ombudsman sabet li l-Kummissjoni kienet involuta fid-deċiżjoni ta’ sostituzzjoni. L-Ombudsman għalhekk sab li l-Kummissjoni naqset milli tiżgura li d-dritt tal-ilmentatur li jinstema’ ġie rrispettat qabel is-sostituzzjoni tiegħu, li kien jammonta għal amministrazzjoni ħażina.  Hija għamlet suġġeriment għal titjib bil-għan li l-kwistjoni ma titħalliex isseħħ fil-futur. 

Barra minn hekk, l-Ombudsman sabet li, peress li l-kuntratt tal-ilmentatur kien ġie tterminat, ma ġiet iġġustifikata l-ebda inkjesta ulterjuri dwar il-kwistjoni tal-permess tax-xogħol. Madankollu, hija għamlet suġġeriment għal titjib lill-Kummissjoni, u stednitha tivverifika l-kwistjoni peress li tista’ taffettwa esperti oħra li jaħdmu fuq il-proġett tal-UE. 

 

Il-każ kien jikkonċerna deċiżjoni tal-Kummissjoni Ewropea, li tat lil Spanja deroga minn regola fid-Direttiva dwar l-Enerġija. Ir-regola tipprevedi li l-operaturi tas-sistema ta’ trażmissjoni ma jistgħux ikunu sidien ta’ faċilitajiet tal-ħżin tal-enerġija. Id-deċiżjoni tagħti deroga minn dik ir-regola fir-rigward tal-faċilitajiet tal-ħżin tal-enerġija idroelettrika ppumpjata fil-Gżejjer Kanarji. L-ilment lill-Ombudsman kien li l-Kummissjoni kienet interpretat ir-regola b’mod żbaljat u li, fi kwalunkwe każ, il-kundizzjonijiet għall-għoti tad-deroga ma kinux issodisfati.

L-Ombudsman staqsiet dwar il-kwistjoni u sabet li filwaqt li l-ilment ma kienx mingħajr merti, l-azzjonijiet tal-Kummissjoni ma kinux jammontaw għal amministrazzjoni ħażina. Madankollu, l-Ombudsman issuġġeriet li l-Kummissjoni għandha tfakkar lis-servizzi tagħha dwar l-importanza li jinvolvu ruħhom b'mod sostantiv u f'biżżejjed dettall maċ-ċittadini li jiġbdu l-attenzjoni tagħha għal tħassib mistħoqq u dettaljat.