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.
UPDATE
We received a response on 30 October 2024 from the European Ombudsman to our complaint against the Commission for failing to consult on the 2023 Citizenship Report published on 6 December.
We are surprised by the Ombudsman’s response. If the Commission does not consult on a report under the Treaties which covers a significant period of activity across the EU Institutions and policies, and concerns European citizenship, on what — one might one ask — does it consult? This is a useful lesson to all those reading the rhetoric about citizens having a say in EU affairs and participatory democracy to remain sceptical and vigilant.
According to the European Ombudsman “the Commission does have considerable discretion in the modalities and breadth of its consultation” to the extent of taking precedence over a previous conclusion of her office. This raises the question of whether the Commission’s margin of discretion is too wide, especially since this concerns a topic which the Institution should not seek to monopolise. There is a fault line here in the Commission’s minimum standards of consultation which should be addressed.
The decision by the European Ombudsman in closing the case ends at least with : “We consider the Commission’s practice of organising public consultations in the context of the Citizenship Report a good administrative practice. As such, we will urge the Commission to return to this approach for future reports.”
We will consider the follow-up when our Board meets on 27 November.