As part of our understanding of accountability towards society, the EIB Group has a Complaints Mechanism in place that enables stakeholders to raise their concerns about EIB Group-financed operations. The mechanism helps to facilitate and handle complaints against the EIB Group by individuals, organisations and corporations impacted by EIB Group activities. Complaints may be made about arrangements for involvement of affected communities, access to information, the environmental and social impact of projects, procurement procedures, human resources issues, and any other aspect of the planning, implementation or impact of EIB Group operations.

The EIB Group Complaints Mechanism provides two levels of investigation:

• The Complaints Mechanism Division, which is operationally independent from the Bank’s other departments, tries to find a solution to a case and may advise the EIB on remedial and/or corrective action where necessary.
• If the Mechanism fails to find a solution and/or provide an appropriate response, the complaint can be escalated up to the European Ombudsman, a fully independent European Union body.

2017 saw a rise in registered complaints. 114 complaints were received, of which 103 were registered as admissible, which compares to 89 and 84 cases in the previous year. Eleven of these complaints were filed with the European Ombudsman. ☑︎ At the same time, the Complaints Mechanism Division dealt with 173 complaints last year (2016: 122 complaints). All complaints are handled in confidence, unless otherwise requested by the complainant. We act on these through investigation processes and/or mediation in order to find a solution that is acceptable to all sides.