After filing a complaint at the EU Ombudsman over the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) refusal to provide the details regarding the sixteen properties offered within the context of the public procurement procedure for the EU Head of Delegation private residence in Tirana, the EU Ombudsman has recently decided that Exit’s complaint is valid, and that it will start an inquiry into the matter:
I would like to inform you that the Ombudsman has decided to open an inquiry into your complaint and has decided that it is necessary to ask the EEAS to facilitate an inspection of the relevant files.
In previous communication with Exit, the EEAS refused to provide the full documentation surrounding the procurement procedure, citing “commercial interests”:
I hereby confirm that releasing the list of offered properties (part of the market survey) would indeed undermine the protection of commercial interests of a natural or legal person, as per Article 4(2)1st indent of the abovementioned Regulation [(EC) No 1049/2001]. Therefore, I cannot grant you access to such list.
With its decision to start an inquiry, the EU Ombudsman has indicated that this argument may not be sufficient not to release the full documentation regarding the tender of the EU Delegation in Tirana.
