Secretariat‐General Head of Unit - C2

 

Dear Mr X,

The Ombudsman has received a complaint against the European Commission. The complaint concerns the Commission’s refusal to give public access to the minutes of meetings of the EU Regional Task Force Greece.

The complainant’s access request of 30 September 2021 concerned “minutes from the EU Regional Task Force meetings in Greece from June 2015 until December 2016; from May 2018 until December 2018; and from April 2020 until September 2021”. On 20 December 2021, the Commission identified 34 documents,[1] and refused access to all of them. In doing so, the Commission relied on three exceptions under the EU legislation on public access to documents (Regulation 1049/2001), namely the need to protect the public interest as regards public security, defence and military matters, and international relations.

On 1 January 2022, the complainant asked the Commission to review its initial decision and to provide access to the documents. On 14 February 2023, the Commission adopted its confirmatory decision, giving partial access to 27 documents (documents 1-28) and refusing access to the seven remaining documents (documents 29-35). In doing so, the Commission relied on the need to protect the public interest as regards public security and international relations, and to protect personal data.

The complainant is dissatisfied with the Commission’s refusal to provide (wider) access to the documents. In her view, the Commission has made excessive use of the exceptions mentioned above, especially in light of the passage of time and the fact that the facilities mentioned in the documents are now closed. The complainant does not challenge the redaction of information based on the need to protect personal data.

We have decided to open an inquiry into the complaint against the Commission’s decision to grant only partial access to the documents at issue under Regulation 1049/2001.

Regulation 1049/2001 states that applications for access should be handled promptly. It is in line with this principle that the Ombudsman also seeks to deal with cases such as this as quickly as possible.

As a first step, we consider it necessary to review the documents at issue in the complaint, as well as any third-party consultations conducted by the Commission in relation to the access request. I would be grateful if the Commission could provide these documents, preferably in electronic format through encrypted e-mail,[2] by 10 January 2025.

We would be grateful to receive marked copies indicating which parts were disclosed to the complainant and which were not, and the reasoning for the redactions.

The documents subject to the public access request will be treated confidentially, along with any other material the Commission chooses to share with us that it marks confidential. Documents of this kind will be handled and stored in line with this confidential status and will be deleted from the Ombudsman’s files shortly after the inquiry has ended.

The Commission’s position has been set out in its confirmatory response. However, should the Commission wish to provide additional views, to be taken into account by the European Ombudsman during this inquiry, we would be grateful if they could be provided to us within fifteen working days from the receipt of this letter, that is, 23 January 2025.

The inquiries officer responsible for the case is Ms Amandine Le Bellec.

Yours sincerely,

Rosita Hickey
Director of Inquiries

Strasbourg, 19/12/2024

 

[1] We understand that although the Commission’s initial decision mentions 35 documents, this is due to a clerical mistake in the list provided to the complainant, as later clarified in the confirmatory decision. For clarity, we are nonetheless referring to documents 1-28 (27 documents in total, as document 5 does not exist), and 29-35.

[2] Encrypted emails can be sent to our dedicated mailbox.