Ref. Ares(2021)1932729 - 17/03/2021
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
NEIGHBOURHOOD AND ENLARGEMENT NEGOTIATIONS
The acting Director-General
Brussels,
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref. GestDem 2021/0654
Dear Mr Runci,
I refer to your application dated 11 February 20211, registered on the same date under the
above-mentioned reference number2. Your request concerns:
‘documents which contain the following information:
- all correspondence, including attachments (i.e. any emails, mail
correspondence or telephone call notes) between DG NEAR, including any
Cabinet Members and/or officials, and Ms Nathalie Tocci, Special Adviser to
HR/VP
- a list of all meetings and/or calls attended by DG NEAR, including any
Cabinet Members and/or officials, that were attended by Ms Nathalie Tocci as
well.
The list should include:
- date, individuals attending and organisational affiliation, list of issues
discussed, as well as minutes and other reports of these meetings and/or calls;
- all documents prepared for the purpose of the meetings issued both in
preparation and after the meetings took place’.
I also refer to our email of 4 March 2021, by which we informed you that an extended
time limit was needed for the purpose of internal consultations regarding your request3.
Your application concerns the following 11 documents:
1 Ref. Ares(2021)1622798.
2 Ref. Ares(2021)1686071.
3 Ref. Ares(2021)1686279.
Mr Alessandro Runci
Via Cerreto Sannita 13
00182 Roma
Italy
By email only:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
1. Email exchange between Cabinet Várhelyi and communications firm, 5
November 2020;
2. Belgrade Economic Forum programme, 5 November 2020;
3. Twenty-five years later, The Dayton Agreement and the European Pathway for
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 18 November 2020;
4. Roman talks with the Balkans preliminary draft programme, 24 March 2020;
5. Email exchange between Cabinet Várhelyi and Friends of Europe, 6 May 2020;
6. Email exchange between Cabinet Várhelyi and Permanent Representation of Italy
to the EU, 6 March 2020;
7. Email exchange between Cabinet Várhelyi and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
International Cooperation of Italy, 17 November 2020;
8. Email exchange between Cabinet Várhelyi and Permanent Representation of Italy
to the EU, 5 March 2020;
9. Email exchange between Cabinet Várhelyi and Friends of Europe, 7 May 2020;
10. Letter from Istituto Affari Internazionali and the Italianieuropei Foundation to
Commissioner Várhelyi, 3 March 2020;
11. Brief on 14th International Conference of the INSS.
Please note that there is no document containing ‘a list of all meetings and/or calls
attended by DG NEAR, including any Cabinet Members and/or officials, that were
attended by Ms Nathalie Tocci as well’. As specified in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/20014, the right of access as defined in that regulation applies only to existing
documents in the possession of the institution. Given that no such document,
corresponding to the above description given in your application, is held by the
Commission, the Commission is not in a position to fulfil your request in that regard.
Having examined the above-listed documents under the provisions of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001, I have decided that:
- Partial access can be granted to documents 1-10 subject to redaction of personal
data, in accordance with Article 4(1)(b) (protection of the privacy and integrity of
the individual) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001;
- Access must be refused to document 11, as disclosure is prevented by the
exceptions to the right of access laid down in Article 4(1)(a), third indent
(protection of the public interest as regards international relations) and Article
4(1)(b) (protection of the privacy and integrity of the individual) of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001.
The justifications are as follows:
1. Protection of the public interest as regards international relations
Article 4(1)(a), third indent, of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 provides that the
'institutions shall refuse access to a document where disclosure would undermine the
protection of […] the public interest as regards […] international relations […]'.
As per settled case-law, the institutions ‘must be recognised as enjoying a wide discretion
for the purpose of determining whether the disclosure of documents relating to the fields
4 Regulation (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, Official Journal L 145 of 31
May 2001, p. 43.
2
covered by [the exceptions provided for in Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation 1049/2001]
could undermine the public interest’5.
Consequently, ‘the Court’s review of the legality of the institutions’ decisions refusing
access to documents on the basis of the mandatory exception […] relating to the public
interest must be limited to verifying whether the procedural rules and the duty to state
reasons have been complied with, the facts have been accurately stated, and whether
there has been a manifest error of assessment of the facts or a misuse of powers’6.
The public disclosure of document 11 would affect the international relations between
the EU and the Israeli authorities, given the content of the document, which includes
opinions of relevant actors on security issues.
Disclosing document 11, which was not designed for external communications purposes,
might lead to misunderstandings and/or misrepresentations regarding the nature of EU-
Israel relations. This could be broadly relayed and negatively impact established
international relations with Israeli authorities.
Against this background, there is a risk that disclosure of this document would
undermine the protection of the public interest as regards international relations. I
consider this risk as reasonably foreseeable and non-hypothetical, given the sensitivity of
the issues discussed in the document.
2. Protection of the privacy and the integrity of the individual
Full disclosure of documents 1-10 is prevented by the exception concerning the
protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual outlined in Article 4(1)(b) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. In particular, these documents contain the names of
individuals who are not public figures.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation7 does not allow the transmission of
these personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data transmitted to
you for a specific purpose in the public interest and where there is no reason to assume
that the legitimate interests of the data subject might be prejudiced. In your request, you
do not express any particular interest to have access to these personal data, nor do you
put forward any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data transmitted for a
specific purpose in the public interest.
Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, access cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested
documents, as the need to obtain access thereto for a purpose in the public interest has
not been substantiated and there is no reason to think that the legitimate interests of the
individuals concerned would not be prejudiced by disclosure of the personal data
concerned.
5 Judgment of 3 July 2014,
Council v
In ‘t Veld, C-350/12, paragraph 63.
6 Judgment of 25 April 2007,
WWF European Policy Programme v
Council, T-264/04, paragraph 40.
7 Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the
protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions,
bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No
45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC, OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39.
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Partial Access
We have considered whether partial access could be granted to document 11 but this was
deemed impossible, as the sensitive elements are integral to it. Please note that we cannot
provide you with more detailed information on this document without disclosing its
substance, which is protected by the quoted exceptions laid down in Article 4 of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
Means of Redress
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 its 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]
Maciej Popowski
Enclosures:
Documents 1-10
4
Electronically signed on 17/03/2021 15:39 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482