President European Commission

 

 

Dear President,

I have received a complaint against the European Commission. The complaint is about how the Commission is handling four infringement complaints alleging that Greece has breached EU asylum law and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CPLT(2022)00677, CPLT(2022)02264, CPLT(2022)02981, and CPLT(2022)03534).

I have decided to open an inquiry into this complaint.

The complainants, two civil society organisations active in the field of asylum in Greece, lodged their infringement complaints with the Commission between February and December 2022. The infringement complaints concern alleged breaches of the Qualification Directive,[1] the Reception Conditions Directive,[2] the Asylum Procedures Directive,[3] the Returns Directive,[4] and Articles 1, 6 and 18 of the Charter.[5]

As the decision on the next step in all four complaints is still pending, the complainants consider that the Commission has failed to demonstrate that it is conducting an adequate, thorough and prompt assessment of the substance of the infringement complaints. They consider that this is particularly alarming considering the severity of the allegations made therein and the consequences for compliance with fundamental rights in the EU. The complainants further criticise the Commission’s reliance on dialogue within the Task Force Migration Management, which they consider has been inefficient at remedying alleged breaches of EU law and cannot replace enforcement action by the Commission. Finally, they take issue with how the Commission communicated with them on their complaints, including in relation to their request for information about potentially overlapping infringement proceedings.

As a first inquiry step, I invite the Commission to send a written reply on the complaint, ensuring that its reply includes the following elements:  

• A. A detailed explanation of the steps taken so far in these four cases, as well as the reasons for the delay in their handling;
• B. An explanation of the Commission’s stance, in the four letters sent on 24 and 26 March 2025, as regards the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. It appears from these letters that the Commission will take the complaints into consideration when monitoring the Pact implementation, but it is not clear if, in the meantime, the Commission is examining the infringement of the provisions currently in force and, if so, what its preliminary assessment is. In addition, I would appreciate it if the Commission could also provide more details about the recent rulings it has mentioned in the letters, and the infringement proceedings[6] it referred to when exchanging with the complainants;
• C. A clarification of the role of the Task Force Migration Management in the examination of the infringement complaints at issue.

I invite the Commission to send its reply by 20 January 2026. Please note that the reply will be shared with the complainant for comments. I am also likely to publish your reply.^[7]

In addition, I request to inspect the Commission’s files on the four infringement complaints, as well as the Commission’s file on the infringement proceedings it has mentioned to the complainant as being possibly related to their concerns.[8] This includes all documents directly related to the cases, including documents that may not have been registered. The Commission should provide the files by 20 December 2025. Information or documents that the Commission considers to be confidential will not be disclosed to the complainants or any other person without the prior agreement of the Commission.[9]

The responsible inquiries officer is Ms Amandine Le Bellec.

Yours sincerely,

Teresa Anjinho
European Ombudsman

Strasbourg, 21/10/2025

 

 

[1] Article 4(3) of Directive 2011/95/EU, available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2011/95/oj/eng

[2] Article 8 of Directive 2013/33/EU, available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2013/33/oj/eng

[3] Articles 6, 9, 24(3), 38(4), 40-42, 46(3) of Directive 2013/32/EU, available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2013/32/oj/eng

[4] Articles 5, 6, 14, and 15  Directive 2008/115/EC, available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2008/115/oj/eng

[5] Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:12012P/TXT

[6] Please see the exchange of correspondence with the complainant in CPLT(2022)00677 of 26 and 28 March 2024.

[7] If the Commission shares further information or documents for inspection by my services, please mark it confidential. Encrypted emails can be sent to our dedicated mailbox. Confidential information and documents of this kind will be deleted from the European Ombudsman’s files shortly after the inquiry has ended.

[8] See footnote 6.

[9] See footnote 7.