Strasbourg, 7 September 2010

Dear Mr M.,

On 20 May 2010, you made a complaint to the European Ombudsman concerning access to documents. On 29 July 2010, I forwarded the complaint to the President of the European Commission and asked him to submit an opinion. On 30 August 2010, you informed me that you have initiated legal proceedings before the European Union's General Court concerning the same facts.

Article 228 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides that the European Ombudsman may not conduct inquiries where the alleged facts are or have been the subject of legal proceedings. Furthermore, Article 2(7) of the Statute of the European Ombudsman states as follows:

"When the Ombudsman, because of legal proceedings in progress or concluded concerning facts which have been put forward, has to declare a complaint inadmissible or terminate consideration of it, the outcome of any inquiries he has carried out up to that point shall be filed without further action."

In view of the above, I have decided to terminate the consideration of your complaint and to file, without further action, the outcome of the inquiries carried out so far.

The President of the Commission will also be informed of this decision.

Yours sincerely,

 

P. Nikiforos DIAMANDOUROS