The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has welcomed the European Commission’s acknowledgment of an administrative error concerning fishing quotas in the West of Scotland. The Ombudsman’s investigation started after a complaint from a Scottish fishermen’s association. He concluded that the Commission had mistakenly switched data between two columns of a table that served as a basis for fishing quotas in 2007.
In this way there was a 10 percent reduction of fishing days allocated for a specific group of vessels in the West of Scotland. Diamandouros commented errors occur in every administration. A good administration is willing to acknowledge its errors, to correct them if possible and to make sure they do not occur again. He also said that the Commissioner is to be commended for setting a good example and precedent for the services to follow in the future.
Every year, the Council of the EU adopts a fishing plan for EU waters which allocates a certain number of fishing days to specific groups of vessels. Scottish fishermen’s association lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman alleging that the Commission had erroneously interchanged data in two columns of a table contained in a document that served as a basis for the Council Regulation on the matter. After thorough investigation into the complaint, the Ombudsman concluded that the Commission had indeed made an administrative mistake.
