Dear Mr X,

You recently submitted a complaint to the European Ombudsman against the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (’the Authority’) concerning the above issue. You contend that the Authority decided not to hire you because you could only start on a later date than the one proposed, that it forced you to decline its job offer against your will and that it was rude in its correspondence with you.

After careful analysis of all the information you provided with your complaint, we have decided to close the inquiry with the following conclusion:

There was no maladministration by the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations.

This is because the Authority appears to have provided you reasonable explanations for its position on the matter.

We note that, on 19 March 2024, you informed the Authority that you “refrain from the position”. Moreover, you expressed understanding for the Authority’s needs and thanked it for the job offer it had made you. Based on this, the Authority then offered the position to another candidate. There is nothing in the file to suggest that the Authority “forced” you to decline its offer. Rather, it appears that you took your decision freely considering all your personal circumstances.

We are sorry to read that your personal circumstances prevented you from taking up an EU job although you had ranked first in the relevant selection procedure. We acknowledge that starting a new job and moving internationally requires some time. However, EU institutions and bodies enjoy broad discretion in organising their services.[1] Referring to its workload, the Authority informed you that it could wait for approximately three months but not six as you wished. This appears reasonable in the given context. The reasons put forward by the Authority were both legitimate and objective.

Finally, while the Authority could have used more empathetic language in its correspondence, its replies are not unreasonable.

Yours sincerely,

Tina Nilsson
Head of the Case-handling Unit

Strasbourg, 18/09/2024

 

[1] Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 27 November 2003, Bories and others v. Commission, T-331/00 and T-115/01, para. 171 (with further references): https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=E8E19C1E8817DE19B26C72B5F541A9E1?text=&docid=48769&pageIndex=0&doclang=FR&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=1326166