The complainant asked the European Commission to grant public access to documents related to its proposal for applying the 'rule of law procedure' in Hungary (proposal for a Council Decision based on the Conditionality Regulation). The Commission identified fourteen documents as falling within the scope of the request and disclosed all but parts of three of these documents. In withholding access to these parts, it invoked two exceptions under the EU legislation on public access to documents, arguing that disclosure could undermine ongoing court proceedings and its decision-making process.

Following an inspection of the documents in question and two meetings her team held with Commission representatives, the Ombudsman was not convinced by the Commission’s reasoning for invoking the exceptions. She proposed the Commission give wider public access to the documents.

The Commission accepted the Ombudsman’s proposal and gave full access to the requested documents.