The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has been criticizing the European Commission for an administrative error concerning fishing quotas in the West of Scotland.
In March 2008, the Clyde Fishermen's Association made a complaint with the Ombudsman about the allocation of fishing days for 2007. According to the association, the Commission had erroneously interchanged data in two columns for the West of Scotland and the North Sea of a document that served as a basis for the Council Regulation.
The Ombudsman confirmed that the Commission had made an administrative mistake in the relevant document relating to the allocation of fishing days. As the mistake went unseen, it was included in the final Council Regulation on the allocation of fishing days for 2007. Consequently, such mistake led to a reduction in the number of fishing days allocated for specific groups of vessels in the West of Scotland from 280 to 252. There was, therefore, a 10% reduction.
The Ombudsman has urged the Commission to correct its error to avoid any knock-on effects for subsequent years. However, the European Commission believes that no mistake had been made. According to the Commission the Ombudsman has based his analyses on a “non-paper, which is an informal discussion document.” The Commission has stressed that “since non-papers are not official proposals, they cannot be the source of administrative errors.”
The Commission has been refusing to accept the Ombudsman's recommendation. On 12 February, the European Ombudsman concluded his investigation and said "The Commission's defensive approach in this case represents a missed opportunity for the institution and risks damaging the image of the Union's administration in the eyes of citizens.” He asked the Commission to come up with a “more encouraging and constructive” answer to his recommendation, by 30 June.
