30/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros has welcomed the European Commission's decision not to proceed to the recovery of a pension mistakenly paid after the decease of a former employee. The decision comes further to a complaint filed by the son of the deceased. Over four years after the death of his father, the Commission had claimed back the sum of €1,747, stating that it was an invalidity pension unduly paid. At the time of the request, the complainant was without employment and was working voluntarily for an NGO. He had explained to the Commission that he was unaware of the pension payment. Although, initially, he had agreed to reimburse the amount in staggered payments, he was of the view that it would be unfair of the Commission to implement a recovery order. In his complaint to the Ombudsman, he stated his good faith and explained that he did not have the means to pay. He called on the Commission to cancel the request for reimbursement. The complete decision can be consulted on-line at: http: //http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/decision/en/051617.htm