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European Ombudsman
European Ombudsman's website lastest published pages
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Decision on the European Border and Coast Guard Agency’s (Frontex) refusal to give public access to reports on the situation at the Bulgarian border (case 170/2025/NH)
The case concerned a request for public access to mission reports held by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), and drawn up by Frontex fundamental rights monitors, on the situation in Bulgaria. Frontex identified four mission reports as falling within the scope of the request but refused access to them in their entirety, arguing that disclosure would undermine the protection of the public interest as regards public security, as well as Frontex’s decision-making process.
The Ombudsman inquiry team inspected the documents at issue. Based on the inspection, the Ombudsman found that Frontex’s refusal to disclose the four mission reports was overall justified. She therefore closed the inquiry with the conclusion that there had been no maladministration by Frontex.
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Report on the meeting of the European Ombudsman inquiry team with representatives of the European Commission on how it dealt with a request for public access to documents related to its proposal for applying the 'rule of law procedure' in Hungary
Date of first meeting: Wednesday, 07 August 2024
Date of second meeting: Monday, 07 October 2024
Online (Webex) (first meeting) and at the Ombudsman’s premises (second meeting)
Present
On 7 August 2024
European Commission
Three representatives from DG Budget
Three representatives from the Secretariat-General
European Ombudsman
Jennifer King - Legal Expert
Paulien Van de Velde-Van Rumst - Inquiries Officer
Alice Bernard - Inquiries Officer
Valentina Stoeva - Inquiries Officer
Anežka Hlinovská - Inquiries Trainee
On 7 October 2024
European Commission
Four representatives from DG Budget
Two representatives from the Secretariat-General
European Ombudsman
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Reply of the European Commission on a request for copies of three documents from the Hungarian file under the Conditionality Regulation from the European Ombudsman
Please download pdf document attached.
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How the European Commission dealt with a request for public access to documents related to subsidies
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The European Commission’s failure to reply to a complaint concerning the age range for national colorectal cancer screening programmes
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Information
Justice
The Defensor del Pueblo is the High Commissioner of Parliament responsible for defending citizens’ fundamental rights and civil liberties by monitoring the activity of the Administration and public authorities. Any citizen may request the intervention of the Defensor del Pueblo, which is free of charge, to investigate any alleged misconduct by public authorities and/or the agents thereof. The office of the Defensor del Pueblo can also intervene ex officio in cases that come to their attention without any complaint having been filed.
The European Ombudsman is an independent and impartial body that holds the EU’s institutions and agencies to account, and promotes good administration. The Ombudsman helps people, businesses, and organisations facing problems with the EU’s administration by investigating complaints about maladministration by EU institutions and bodies, as well as by proactively looking into broader systemic issues.