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European Ombudsman Annual report 2025 is now available
European Ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho’s annual report for 2025 shows that the number of complaints handled by the office rose by 54 percent (from 2264 to 3490) compared to 2024 and that the number of inquiries rose by 19 percent (from 415 to 492).
The steep rise is believed to be in part due to AI tools suggesting the Ombudsman when people look for help in relation to the EU administration.
While it is very positive that more people know about the European Ombudsman, this new reality has required the Office to adapt its internal working methods to be able to continue to meet the expectations of citizens.
As part of the response, the Office recruited a dedicated AI officer and set up a cross-department AI taskforce and has already taken some practical steps to reduce the number of complaints that concern topics outside the mandate of the Ombudsman.
Throughout 2025, the Office also explored how AI can help with some ancillary tasks related to case-handing, such as summarising large documents, while ensuring that human oversight continues and that AI is not used to take decisions. The AI policy was published on the Ombudsman website in December 2025 and will be updated as needed.
Transparency and accountability
The biggest proportion of inquiries continued to concern transparency and accountability issues (38 percent) in 2025. This was followed by complaints related to a culture of service (such as failures to reply), and then to those related to the proper management of infringement procedures.
Institutions had a high tendency to follow the Ombudsman’s proposals for a solution during inquiries (89%) and the suggestions for improvement (78%) at the end of inquiries.
During 2025, the Ombudswoman opened an own-initiative inquiry into how 15 EU agencies manage revolving doors situations and has now published good practice guidelines to help ensure a uniform approach to the matter across all agencies.
In 2025, Ms Anjinho also found a number of shortcomings in how the European Commission prepared several legislative proposals that it considered urgent. The Ombudswoman made proposals for improvement which she would like to see reflected in the upcoming revision of the Better Regulation rules.
Among the other inquiries opened was one into how the Commission ensures transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability in the adoption of harmonised standards for AI. The Ombudswoman also opened several access to documents inquiries including ones concerning a request for access to a risk assessment report by X and concerning a text message related to negotiations on the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.
Improvements
Improvements as a result of Ombudsman inquiries included the European Investment Bank proactively publishing more environmental and social data; the Commission improving conflict of interest measures for experts evaluating European Defence Fund projects; and the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity updating its internal policy on dealing with requests for public access to documents.
Source: European Ombudsman
