Ref. Ares(2020)7208935 - 30/11/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The Director-General
Brussels
devco.r(2020)4260958
Mr Nikolaj Nielsen
EUobserver
Avenue d'Auderghem / Oudergemlaan 150
1040 Brussels
Belgium
By e-mail:
ask+request-8354-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GESTDEM 2020/4260
Dear Mr Nielsen,
We refer to your e-mail dated 13 July 2020 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on the same date under the above-mentioned reference number.
We also refer to our e-mail of 31 July 2020 through which the time limit for handling
your application has been extended by 15 working days, in accordance with article 7(3)
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011. We apologise for the delay in replying to you.
You request access to all the documents that served as a basis for obtaining the
conclusions of the Commission’s Report on the implementation of the European Fund for
Sustainable Development (hereafter “the report”). You indicate that “[
T]his includes, but
is not limited to:
- All correspondence – including all attachments – regarding, mentioning or discussing
the Relevance, Effectiveness and value added, Efficiency, Coherence and co-ordination,
Sustainability.
- A list of all meetings held where these conclusions were discussed or mentioned, as well
as all minutes of these meetings”.
As a preliminary remark, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that the
conclusions of the report referred to in your request are based on the results and analysis
provided in the external study that was commissioned for this purpose and which was
published alongside with the Commission’s report2, including the methodology and list
of documents provided in annexes 2 and 3.
1Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding
public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43
2 Implementation Report of the EFSD and the EFSD Guarantee Fund, Final repor
t https://ec.europa.eu/eu-
external-investment-plan/sites/devco-eip/files/efsd-implem_report-external_support_study-final.pdf
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
In light of your application, we have identified the following documents as being relevant to
your request:
1. European Commission (2018), 2017 EFSD Operational Report
2. European Commission (2019), 2018 EFSD Operational Report
3. European Commission (2020), 2019 EFSD Operational Report
4. European Commission (2017), Your guide to the EU External Investment Plan.
5. European Commission, Directorate-General for International Cooperation and
Development (2016) Evaluation of Blending, Final Report
6. Commission Decision of 13.12.2018 on the approval of the conclusion of EFSD
guarantee agreements with selected eligible counterparts under the EFSD
Guarantee, C(2018)8804
7. Commission Decision of 15.4.2019 on the approval of the conclusion of EFSD
guarantee agreements with selected eligible counterparts under the EFSD
Guarantee, C(2019)2780
8. Inter-service Consultation 2020/02061
9. European Commission (2017), EFSD Guarantee Windows MSME Financing
10. European Commission (2017), EFSD Guarantee Windows Digital For
Development
11. European Commission (2017),. EFSD Guarantee Windows Sustainable Cities
12. European Commission (2017), EFSD Guarantee Windows Energy Connectivity
13. European Commission (2017), EFSD Guarantee Windows Agriculture
14. Minutes of the EFSD Strategic Board of 28 September 2017, 10 July 2018,
25 January 2019 and 22 January 2020
15. ECDPM (2019) Fostering the local dimension of blended finance: From
principles to practice
16. Council of the European Union (2019), Europe in the world, The future of the
European financial architecture for development
Having examined the documents requested under the provisions of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, we have come to the conclusion that
the majority of the documents can be fully disclosed, while access has to be refused to
document number 8. The disclosure is prevented by the exception to the right of access
laid down in Article 4(3) of the aforementioned Regulation, since the related
decision-making processes are not finalised.
You may reuse public documents, which have been produced by the European Commission
or by public and private entities on its behalf based on the
Commission Decision on the
reuse of Commission documents. You may reuse the documents disclosed free of charge
and for non-commercial and commercial purposes provided that the source is acknowledged
and that you do not distort the original meaning or message of the documents. Please note
that the Commission does not assume liability stemming from the reuse.
2
In case you do not agree with this position, in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001, you are entitled to make a confirmatory application requesting the
Commission to review this position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt
of this letter to the Secretary-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Bruxelles
or by email to
: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
(e-signed)
Koen DOENS
Enclosures:
1.
List of disclosed documents available with a public link
2.
Commission Decision of 13.12.2018 on the approval of the conclusion of
EFSD guarantee agreements with selected eligible counterparts under the EFSD
Guarantee, C(2018)8804
3.
Commission Decision of 15.4.2019 on the approval of the conclusion of
EFSD guarantee agreements with selected eligible counterparts under the EFSD
Guarantee, C(2019)2780
4.
European Commission (2017). EFSD Guarantee Windows MSME Financing
5.
European Commission (2017), EFSD Guarantee Windows Digital for
Development
6.
European Commission, Directorate-General for International Cooperation
and Development (2017), EFSD Guarantee Windows Sustainable Cities
7.
European Commission (2017), EFSD Guarantee Windows Energy
Connectivity
8.
European Commission (2017), EFSD Guarantee Windows Agriculture
9.
Minutes of the EFSD Strategic Board of 28 September 2017
10. Minutes of the EFSD Strategic Board of 10 July 2018
11. Minutes of the EFSD Strategic Board of 25 January 2019
12. Minutes of the EFSD Strategic Board of 22 January 2020
3
Enclosure 1:
List of disclosed documents available with a public link
Document
Link:
Document 1: European Commission
https://ec.europa.eu/eu-external-investment-
(2018), 2017 EFSD Operational
plan/sites/devco-eip/files/documents/efds-
Report
report_en.pdf
Document 2: European Commission
https://ec.europa.eu/eu-external-investment-
(2019), 2018 EFSD Operational
plan/sites/devco-eip/files/documents/eip-
Report
operational-report_2018.pdf
Document 3: European Commission
https://ec.europa.eu/eu-external-investment-
(2020), 2019 EFSD Operational
plan/sites/devco-
Report
eip/files/documents/201016_efsd_op_report-_final-
_ldef.pdf
Document 4: European Commission
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-
(2017), Your guide to the EU
political/files/external-investment-plan-guide-
External Investment Plan.
nov17_en.pdf
Document 5: European Commission,
https://ec.europa.eu/international-
Directorate-General for International
partnerships/system/files/evaluation-blending-
Cooperation
and
Development
volume1_en.pdf
(2016) Evaluation of Blending, Final
Report
Document
15:
ECDPM
(2019)
https://ecdpm.org/publications/fostering-local-
Fostering the local dimension of
dimension-blended-finance-principles-practice/
blended finance: From principles to
practice
Document 16: Council of the
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/40967/efad-
European Union (2019), Europe in
report_final.pdf
the world, The future of the
European financial architecture for
development
4
Electronically signed on 27/11/2020 17:20 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482