European Ombudsman: Late payment by Commission still a serious problem

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has expressed his concern about the problems encountered by the European Commission in paying its bills on time.

This follows his latest investigation into the timeliness of the Commission’s payments to citizens, companies, universities, NGOs, and other organisations involved in EU-funded projects and contracts.

In 2007, delays occurred in more than one out of five cases and the average delay amounted to 48 days.

The Ombudsman commended the Commission for the measures already taken to reduce payment delays. He called on it, however, to make further improvements to its payment policy as quickly as possible, especially regarding more vulnerable contractors, such as individual citizens and small- and medium-sized companies and organisations.

The Ombudsman also announced that he would carry out a new investigation in early 2009 when figures for the Commission’s performance in 2008 become available.

Background
In February 2001, the European Ombudsman closed his first investigation into late payment problems within the Commission. This found that the Commission had taken steps to tackle the problem.

Over the last seven years, however, the Ombudsman investigated more than 30 late payment complaints from NGOs, companies, research centres, universities and associations.

In December 2007, he therefore launched a second investigation into the Commission’s payment policy.

Among the most important results of this latest investigation were the following:
• late payment continues to constitute a serious problem in the Commission although progress has been made;
• in 2007, there were delays involving more than 22 % of all payments made by the Commission;
• in 2007, the average delay amounted to 48 days;
• late payments especially concerned smaller amounts for citizens or small and medium-sized companies or associations.

The Ombudsman welcomed the measures already taken to reduce payment delays, namely, simplifying procedures and ensuring better internal monitoring. He noted that, between 2005 and 2007, the Commission had managed to halve the percentage of late payments. He also applauded the decision to introduce automatic interest payments.

To read the full decision, please go to:
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/decision/en/07oi5.htm

The European Ombudsman
The European Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration in the EU institutions and bodies. Any EU citizen, resident, or an enterprise or association in a Member State, can lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman offers a fast, flexible and free means of solving problems with the EU administration. For more information: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu

Source: Press release from the European Ombudsman via Europe Direct Maastricht