European Ombudsman

Who we are

The European Ombudsman’s mission is to help resolve complaints and ensure that the EU administration applies the highest standards of integrity, transparency, accountability and responsiveness. We do this by putting citizens and their rights at the heart of our actions and by fostering constructive dialogue with the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (‘EU IBOAs’), as well as engaging with other relevant stakeholders.

This important role provides people and organisations with a means of redress in situations where they consider that their concerns remain unresolved by the EU IBOAs concerned. It also empowers the Ombudsman to carry out own-initiative inquiries and to engage with the EU IBOAs and other stakeholders to proactively identify areas for improvement and address systemic issues. In doing so, the Ombudsman contributes to ensuring good administration and thus to strengthening the democratic standards and values on which the EU is founded.

The Office’s guiding principles are integrity, fairness, impartiality, independence and accountability.

Respect, openness, inclusiveness, collaboration and efficiency are our core values.

The European Ombudsman is a small, dynamic office with an establishment plan of roughly 75 posts and an annual budget of approximately EUR 16 million.

Its offices are located in Strasbourg and Brussels.

It offers a dynamic and respectful workplace including a good balance between professional and private life and a pleasant working atmosphere. The Office’s organisational structure encourages participation, facilitates skills’ development and our modern working tools allow for efficiency and flexibility.