The case concerns a request for public access to documents used by the European Commission in preparing its 2020 'Rule of law report'. In particular, the complainant sought access to the documents used to prepare the chapters on Germany and Hungary. The Commission failed to take a decision on the request within the prescribed deadline (an implicit refusal of access).

In the course of the inquiry, the Commission granted the complainant unrestricted access to 26 documents and wide access to 65 documents. The Ombudsman closed the case but expressed regret that the Commission had taken so long to deal with the request and urging it to take a swift decision, should the complainant ask it to review the decision taken in the course of this inquiry.