Legal advice and/or analysis of the legality on EU-Turkey agreements

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Council of the European Union should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Council of the EU,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting access to:

a) all documents generated or received by the Council containing the legal advice and/or analysis of the legality under EU and international law of the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Turkey on the readmission of persons residing without authorisation, OJ L 134, 7.5.2014

b) all documents generated or received by the Council containing legal advice and/or analysis of the legality of the actions to be carried out by the EU and its Member States in implementing the actions set out in the statement on the agreement reached with Turkey at the summit held on 7 March 2016 (statement here: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/...). I am interested in documents drawn up both before and since the meeting was held, to date.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any clarification in regards to any aspect of my request.

Thank you in advance.

Yours faithfully,

Luisa Izuzquiza
Access Info Europe

Postmaster Consilium, Council of the European Union

Your message has been received by the Transparency and Access to Documents Unit of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. All requests for access to documents are treated on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The General Secretariat will reply to your request within 15 working days upon registration of your request. Requests received before 5 PM on a working day are registered on the same day. Requests received after 5 PM are registered on the first following working day.

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L'unité "Transparence et accès aux documents" du Secrétariat général du Conseil de l'Union européenne a bien reçu votre message. Toutes les demandes d'accès à des documents sont traitées conformément au règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001 du 30 mai 2001 relatif à l'accès du public aux documents du Parlement européen, du Conseil et de la Commission. Le Secrétariat général répondra à votre demande dans un délai de 15 jours ouvrables à compter de l'enregistrement de celle-ci. Les demandes reçues les jours ouvrables avant 17 heures sont enregistrées le jour même. Les demandes reçues après 17 heures sont enregistrées le premier jour ouvrable suivant.

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SECRETARIAT DGF Access, Council of the European Union

2 Attachments

Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council
concerning your request for access to documents.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Transparency and Access to Documents

 

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CFA5C5.5240EA00

 

Council of the European Union

General Secretariat

Communication and Document Management

Document Management

Transparency and Access to Documents

 

Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België

[2]www.consilium.europa.eu  |  [3][email address]

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely those of the writer and may not
be regarded as stating an official position of the Council of the EU

Clause de non-responsabilité: Les avis exprimés n'engagent que leur auteur
et ne peuvent être considérés comme une position officielle du Conseil de
l'UE

 

References

Visible links
2. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/
3. mailto:[email address]

Dear Council of the EU,

Many thanks for your response.

As I am rather surprised that you hold no relevant documents, I am writing to ensure that my initial request was sufficiently clear.

The press release you refer to (http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/...) states:
"The President of the European Council will take forward these proposals and work out the details with the Turkish side before the March European Council. This work will respect European and international law."

Hence, as per my initial request, I would like to request all documents generated or received by the Council of the EU that were used to form and back up the following Council statement: "This work will respect European and international law."

In particular I note that my original request was wider in scope than the recent EU-Turkey meeting. I asked for all documents generated or received by the Council of the EU that discuss any legal aspects under EU and international law and/or make reference to legal safeguards in regards to:
- the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Turkey on the readmission of persons residing without authorisation, OJ L 134, 7.5.2014; and
- the agreement reached with Turkey at the summit held on 7 March 2016.

An example of such a document that would fall under my request (and that was provided to me by the European Parliament) can be found here: https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc...

I presume that the Council would have a copy of this document. I presume that you also might have received request from other sources (including for example civil society organisations concerned about the legality the agreement).

I would further like to clarify that you are saying that there has been no provision of legal advice by the Council Legal Services with respect to this regulation, and that no such legal advice was provided either in the run up to the adoption of the 2014 Agreement between the EU and Turkey on the readmission of persons residing without authorisation (OJ L 134, 7.5.2014) nor subsequently.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any clarification in regards to any aspect of my request.

Thank you very much in advance.

Yours faithfully,

Luisa Izuzquiza
Access Info Europe

Postmaster Consilium, Council of the European Union

Your message has been received by the Transparency and Access to Documents Unit of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. All requests for access to documents are treated on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The General Secretariat will reply to your request within 15 working days upon registration of your request. Requests received before 5 PM on a working day are registered on the same day. Requests received after 5 PM are registered on the first following working day.

***

This notification was sent from an unattended mailbox. Please do not reply.

***

To see the text of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, please click here:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...

If the link doesn't open when you click on it, please copy - paste it into your browser.

***

L'unité "Transparence et accès aux documents" du Secrétariat général du Conseil de l'Union européenne a bien reçu votre message. Toutes les demandes d'accès à des documents sont traitées conformément au règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001 du 30 mai 2001 relatif à l'accès du public aux documents du Parlement européen, du Conseil et de la Commission. Le Secrétariat général répondra à votre demande dans un délai de 15 jours ouvrables à compter de l'enregistrement de celle-ci. Les demandes reçues les jours ouvrables avant 17 heures sont enregistrées le jour même. Les demandes reçues après 17 heures sont enregistrées le premier jour ouvrable suivant.

***

S'il vous plaît ne répondez pas à ce message, car il a été envoyé d'une boîte aux lettres sans surveillance.

***

Pour consulter le texte du règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001, cliquez ici:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...

Si le lien ne s'ouvre pas lorsque vous cliquez dessus, veuillez copier-coller l'adresse dans votre navigateur.

***

Ihre Nachricht ist bei der Dienststelle "Transparenz und Zugang zu Dokumenten" des General-sekretariats des Rates der Europäischen Union eingegangen. Alle Anträge auf Zugang zu Dokumenten werden gemäß der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 vom 30. Mai 2001 über den Zugang der Öffentlichkeit zu Dokumenten des Europäischen Parlaments, des Rates und der Kommission bearbeitet. Das Generalsekretariat wird Ihnen binnen fünfzehn Arbeitstagen nach Registrierung Ihres Antrags eine Antwort übermitteln. Anträge, die an einem Arbeitstag vor 17.00 Uhr eingehen, werden noch am selben Tages registriert. Nach 17.00 Uhr eingehende Anträge werden am erstfolgenden Arbeitstag registriert.

***

Diese Nachricht wurde automatisch generiert. Bitte nicht antworten.

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Den Text der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 finden Sie hier:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...

Wenn sich der Link beim Anklicken nicht öffnet, kopieren Sie den bitte mit "copy/paste" in Ihren Browser.

DE HERT Luc, Council of the European Union

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Izuzquiza,

 

Thank you for your reaction.

 

Taking into account the clarifications of your request, we undertake to
look again into this issue but please be aware that legal advice from, for
example the Legal Service of the Council, is not always given in writing
but can be given orally during meetings in which the Legal Service
participates.

 

May I also refer you to the forthcoming debate in the plenary of the
European Parliament, next  Thursday 28 April, starting at 8.30 on "Legal
aspects, democratic control and implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement"
which will include Council and Commission statements on the issue.

 

As you know this debate will be webstreamed
([1]http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en...) and may
answer already some of your questions.

 

We will come back to you as soon as possible.

 

Kind regards.

 

 

Luc De Hert

Administrator

 

[2]cid:image003.jpg@01D07923.3A211FD0

 

Council of the European Union

General Secretariat
Communication and Document Management

Document Management

Transparency and Access to Documents

 

JL-00-HN-57
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175

B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België

Direct tel: +32.2.281.84.57 
[3][email address] |  [4]www.consilium.europa.eu 

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely those of the writer and may not
be regarded as stating an official position of the Council of the EU

Clause de non-responsabilité: Les avis exprimés n'engagent que leur auteur
et ne peuvent être considérés comme une position officielle du Conseil de
l'UE

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/