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The case concerned a former staff member of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) whom the EIOPA dismissed due to an irreparable breakdown in trust. This followed a series of unsuccessful attempts by the EIOPA to clarify the complainant’s financial and business affairs.

The Ombudsman’s inquiry focused on whether the EIOPA had examined and handled the conflict of interest situation in line with principles of good administration.

In this case, the complainant’s personal business situation posed obvious risks of apparent, potential and actual conflicts of interest of a particularly serious and unique kind. The Ombudsman concluded that there were serious shortcomings in how the EIOPA initially handled the matter. While this may have contributed to the breakdown of trust, the EIOPA did give the complainant the chance to provide comprehensive information about his external earnings and business affairs. Moreover, as an EU public body, the EIOPA was obliged to investigate fully the complainant’s financial and business affairs when it realised that there was a conflict of interest situation.

The Ombudsman closed the inquiry with a finding of maladministration and pointed to a series of shortcomings.

At the time of the complainant’s recruitment, the conflict of interest issues were not handled in a diligent manner. This was a serious instance of maladministration.

The EIOPA’s subsequent ethics check and launch of the administrative inquiry were steps that were within the EIOPA’s managerial discretion to undertake. However, these processes were not carried out with the requisite focus and rigour.

The Ombudsman noted that, as the EIOPA has since introduced changes to how it works, the issues that arose in this case are unlikely to reoccur. As such, she did not proceed to a recommendation.

The case concerned how the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) assessed the eligibility of a candidate in a selection procedure for French-language lawyer-linguists. EPSO considered that the complainant was not eligible because he did not have the required diplomas. The complainant contested EPSO’s decision, claiming that he did have the required diplomas.

In the course of the inquiry, the Ombudsman found issues with the decision of the selection board to consider the complainant ineligible. She proposed that EPSO ask the selection board to reconsider its position on the eligibility of the complainant for the selection procedure. EPSO agreed to review the candidate’s eligibility and asked the complainant for additional documents. The complainant failed to respond to EPSO’s request. On this basis, EPSO rejected the solution proposal, as it considered that, without these additional documents, it could not review the candidate’s eligibility.

Against this background, the Ombudsman took the view that no further inquiries are justified in this case. She nevertheless made a suggestion to EPSO that, in future selection procedures, selection boards ensure that decisions on the eligibility of candidates are based on a clear understanding of the information provided by candidates in their applications. In case of doubt as to the eligibility of a candidate, the selection board should request additional information from the candidate or seek clarifications from national authorities or other third parties.

The complainant is a freelance interpreter who raised concerns about how the European Parliament complied with its contractual obligations in relation to the provision of remote interpretation services to the European Parliament during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ombudsman took the view that the Parliament had provided reasonable explanations for its position and closed the inquiry with a finding of no maladministration.

The case concerned the European Personnel Selection Office’s decision not to admit the complainant to a selection procedure for secretaries due to insufficient professional experience in the field of the competition.

The Ombudsman found that the selection board had examined the information provided in the complainant’s application and assessed it against the eligibility criteria. The Ombudsman did not identify a manifest error in how the selection board assessed the application, and closed the inquiry with a finding of no maladministration.

The case concerned how the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) assessed the professional experience of a candidate in a selection procedure for recruiting EU staff in the field of sustainable agriculture and rural development.

The Ombudsman found nothing to suggest a manifest error in how the selection board assessed the complainant’s professional experience and, therefore, closed the inquiry with a finding of no maladministration.

The complainant applied for a vacancy at the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA). When he later asked the ERA for an update on the status of his application, the ERA replied that it had not received it. The complainant thus turned to the Ombudsman.

In the context of the Ombudsman’s inquiry, the ERA explained that, due to a technical error with its email system, it had not received the complainant’s application. However, it asked the selection committee to evaluate the application. The ERA also explained the measures it intends to take to prevent similar incidents in future. The Ombudsman concluded that no further inquiries were justified.