Following complaints, on 17 September, the European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, has made two recommendations to the European Parliament and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) concerning the financing of European Parliament buildings Willy Brandt, József Antall and Altiero Spinelli, in Brussels, and whether they should have been subject to a public tender procedure.
The complainant, a journalist, asked, in 2006, the European Parliament for access to several documents concerning the financing of the Willy Brandt and József Antall buildings. The European Parliament has not granted access, arguing that a number of the requested documents were detained by the private developer of the buildings. Whilst other documents, namely a report prepared by a consulting firm, could not be revealed as they contained confidential commercial information.
The Ombudsman asked the European Parliament to explain its statements concerning the legal framework for the financing of the abovementioned buildings. Moreover, he urged the European Parliament to grant access to the report of the consulting firm, the call for tender as well as the list of banks contacted by the developer.
The second case dates back to 2002, when the complainant warned the European Commission of alleged irregularities concerning the financing of Parliament's Altiero Spinelli building. The European Parliament had agreed to pay a company for services concerning the financing of the building's acquisition but it has not published a call for tender concerning such services. Although OLAF opened an investigation it has closed the case in 2006 without carrying out an in-depth investigation. OLAF has stated that it could not initiate disciplinary or criminal proceedings as no clear irregularity had been established.
Hence, in May 2007, the journalist complained to the Ombudsman, alleging that OLAF had not examined properly whether a call for tender should have been published.
According to the Ombudsman “Such a narrow understanding of OLAF's mandate could have the effect that it would not be able to fully live up to its task of fighting fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Community.” He called, therefore, on OLAF to reconsider its investigation related to the procurement procedure for services associated with the financing of the acquisition of the Altiero Spinelli Building as well as to examine the impact of this case on the Community's financial interests.
The European Parliament and OLAF should submit their opinions by the end of October.