Press Release: Ombudsman follows up on problems of late payment by the Commission

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, opened a new investigation into the timeliness of payments by the European Commission. This follows complaints he received from companies, associations, NGOs, universities and other organisations involved in EU-funded projects and contracts. The Ombudsman wants to find out which measures the Commission has taken recently to tackle late payment problems.

This investigation is a follow-up to the last late payment investigation which the Ombudsman closed in July 2008. At that time, the Ombudsman found that, although progress had been made, the Commission still encountered serious problems making payments on time. He decided to open this new investigation in order to take into account new figures reflecting the Commission's performance in 2008.