The Ombudsman's 2024 performance and spending review
Published April 29, 2026
Goal: Transparency and accountability
Community improvement
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This discharge is the European Parliament's official approval that the Ombudsman spent its money correctly, confirming that the office is doing a good job handling complaints and improving its services for EU citizens.
Document summary The source
What is a "Discharge"?
The European Parliament checks that EU institutions have spent money correctly and that their accounts are reliable. If the Parliament is satisfied, it grants a discharge, which is a formal approval allowing the institution to keep the money it spent. This document summarizes the Parliament's decision to grant the Ombudsman this approval for the 2024 budget year.
Financial Overview
The Ombudsman's budget is a very small fraction of the EU's total spending.
- Total Budget: The total budget for 2024 was €13.84 million, an increase of 4.8% compared to 2023.
- Spending Efficiency: The Ombudsman spent most of its money, but the spending rate was still below the 100% target.
- Key Spending Changes:
- Energy costs saw a significant increase of 75%.
- Communication and promotion budgets decreased by 38%.
- The office reported paying all invoices on time.
Key Achievements in 2024
The Ombudsman handled several areas of work and modernization in 2024:
- Complaints and Inquiries: The office received 2,264 new complaints and 411 new inquiries.
- Speed: The average time to handle a complaint dropped from 39 to 36 days.
- Digitalization:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) was used to translate the website, which cut translation costs by 65%.
- Historical archives were moved to Florence, and new AI tools were tested.
- Staffing and Diversity: The office employed 78 staff members (a 5% reduction from 2023). The staff maintained a high gender balance, with all senior posts held by women.
- Sustainability: Buildings are now run on 100% renewable electricity, and solar panels were installed.
Parliament's Observations
The Parliament provided several points for the Ombudsman to consider for the future:
- Spending Goals: The Ombudsman should continue working to reach a 100% spending rate and improve how quickly it spends money that is carried over from previous years.
- Cost Management: Due to the sharp rise in energy prices, the office needs to find ways to keep energy spending under control.
- Staffing: Since the office is shrinking, the Parliament suggested that increasing permanent contracts would help maintain institutional knowledge.
- Transparency: While the Ombudsman follows transparency principles, formally joining the EU transparency register would strengthen its credibility.
- Communication: Because the budget for outreach fell, the Ombudsman should reallocate savings to keep citizens informed about its work.
Contextual Analysis
This is one of the alternative context analyses generated by ClaudeAI and rated 3 stars. Other AI versions:
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Broader context
The European Ombudsman is an independent office created in 1995 to help citizens, businesses, and organisations deal with problems caused by EU institutions — such as the European Commission, Parliament, or agencies. It investigates cases of maladministration: situations where an EU body acts unfairly, is slow to respond, withholds information, or breaks its own rules.
The discharge procedure happens every year. The European Parliament reviews the accounts of every EU institution and decides whether to approve how money was spent. It is one of the main tools Parliament uses to hold EU bodies accountable — similar to how a national parliament reviews government spending.
The Ombudsman's budget (about €13.8 million) is tiny compared to the overall EU budget of roughly €190 billion. This reflects its narrow but important role: it does not make laws or spend money on programmes — it simply investigates complaints.
Impact on people living in the EU
Anyone living in the EU (citizens or residents) can file a free complaint with the Ombudsman if they feel an EU institution has treated them unfairly. This is particularly relevant for people who:
- Applied for EU funding or grants and were refused without clear explanation
- Requested access to EU documents and were denied
- Had a job application to an EU institution handled unfairly
- Experienced delays or poor communication from EU agencies
Key takeaways from the 2024 results:
What improved
What it means for you
Average complaint handled in 36 days (down from 39)
Faster answers to your complaints
AI-translated website (65% cost saving)
Easier to read Ombudsman content in your language
212 public-access requests handled (a record)
More people successfully asking for EU documents
100% of payments made on time
The office is well-run and reliable
The Parliament's push for the Ombudsman to join the EU Transparency Register would make it even clearer that the office itself follows the rules it enforces on others — which matters if you ever need to trust its findings.
This is one of the alternative context analyses generated by ClaudeAI and rated 3 stars. Other AI versions:
Perplexity
Mistral
Broader context
The European Ombudsman is an independent office created in 1995 to help citizens, businesses, and organisations deal with problems caused by EU institutions — such as the European Commission, Parliament, or agencies. It investigates cases of maladministration: situations where an EU body acts unfairly, is slow to respond, withholds information, or breaks its own rules.
The discharge procedure happens every year. The European Parliament reviews the accounts of every EU institution and decides whether to approve how money was spent. It is one of the main tools Parliament uses to hold EU bodies accountable — similar to how a national parliament reviews government spending.
The Ombudsman's budget (about €13.8 million) is tiny compared to the overall EU budget of roughly €190 billion. This reflects its narrow but important role: it does not make laws or spend money on programmes — it simply investigates complaints.
Impact on people living in the EU
Anyone living in the EU (citizens or residents) can file a free complaint with the Ombudsman if they feel an EU institution has treated them unfairly. This is particularly relevant for people who:
- Applied for EU funding or grants and were refused without clear explanation
- Requested access to EU documents and were denied
- Had a job application to an EU institution handled unfairly
- Experienced delays or poor communication from EU agencies
Key takeaways from the 2024 results:
| What improved | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Average complaint handled in 36 days (down from 39) | Faster answers to your complaints |
| AI-translated website (65% cost saving) | Easier to read Ombudsman content in your language |
| 212 public-access requests handled (a record) | More people successfully asking for EU documents |
| 100% of payments made on time | The office is well-run and reliable |
The Parliament's push for the Ombudsman to join the EU Transparency Register would make it even clearer that the office itself follows the rules it enforces on others — which matters if you ever need to trust its findings.
Licensing: This article is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).