ECIT demanded on several occasions in 2023 that there should be a public consultation on the tri-annual Citizenship Report which the European Commission presents under Article 25 TFEU. Following on from an exchange of letters with DG Justice, which refused to make such a commitment, ECIT appealed to the Commission Secretary General.

In the absence of a reply which we requested by 3 July 2024 when our Annual Conference was held and our Board met, we complained to the European Ombudsman. When the reply did come from the Secretary General, the Ombudsman closed the complaint whilst inviting us to make a new one if we were not satisfied with the response. We did complain again to the Ombudsman because although the answer was positive about EU Citizenship it did not change anything by comparison with the earlier correspondence with DG Justice. Unfortunately our appeal did not work.

We have pointed out that it is not the first time that the Ombudsman has dealt with the question of public consultation on the Citizenship Report. We are now waiting to hear whether our complaint is accepted and can go forward.