British MEPs
Dear European Parliament,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
1. What will happen to the seats of the former United Kingdom MEPs?
2. Can you tell me who has taken transition allowances and how much have they gotten?
3. Can you tell me how many staff have lost their jobs who worked for British MEPs?
4. What are the costs for compensation for staff losing their jobs?
5. It has been suggested by some that MEPs from the Republic of Ireland will represent people from Northern Ireland. Can you confirm that people from Northern Ireland like the rest of the United Kingdom will have no one to represnet them in the European Parliament?
Yours faithfully,
Abdul Hai
Dear Mr Hai,
This is Parliament’s reply to your application A(2020)1886.
1)
This web page sets out what has happened with the seats of the former
United Kingdom MEPs:
[1]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/p...
2)
General information on transition allowances is available on this page:
[2]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/f...
The legal basis for the transitional allowance for Members of the European
Parliament is Article 13 of the Decision of the European Parliament of 28
September 2005 adopting the Statute for Members of the European
Parliament:
[3]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
More specific data on who has benefitted from transition allowances may be
requested provided the request specifies its scope (MEPs and/or years
concerned).
Besides, as transition allowances and their amounts depend on the personal
circumstances the MEPs concerned, data on transition allowances is
personal data. In order for Parliament to accede to an application for
public access to personal data, in principle, the applicant needs to be
based in the European Union and establish that it is necessary to have the
data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest (Article 9
of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 on the processing of personal data by EU
institution 23 October 2018). It would therefore be appropriate that the
applicant argues as to why he or she meets those conditions.
3)
In submitting your application, you availed yourself of Regulation
1049/2001 on public access to documents. That regulation provides for the
right to access the documents of the Institutions of the European Union.
It does not concern access to information.
Your request under point 3) makes no mention of documents, and cannot be
related to specific documents. You may ask questions to the European
Parliament through this webpage:
[4]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en....
However, Parliament would hardly be in a position to answer such a
question, as it is not in a position to ascertain what assistant or how
many assistants to former MEPs managed to find a new job.
4)
This point is also an open question, and not a request for access to
documents. Status and compensation for the civil servants working for the
administration is ruled by the Staff regulation:
[5]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
.
Staff working for MEPs may work under different statuses, as set out on
the following webpage, under the title “staffing arrangements”:
[6]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/a.... Any
compensation would depend on their status.
5)
Please refer to the following webpage with the current MEPs representing
the citizens of the European Union:
[7]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/h...
In view of the foregoing Parliament considers your application has handled
and closes the file. However, should you be interested in accessing other
specific documents of the European Parliament in view of the above answer,
please do not hesitate to submit a new application specifying what
documents you request public access to.
Kind regards,
The Transparency Unit
[8]LOGO_EP TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate General
for the Presidency
Directorate for
Inter-Institutional
Affairs
and Legislative
Coordination
[9]Public Register webpage
[10][email address]
References
Visible links
1. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/p...
2. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/f...
3. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
4. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en...
5. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
6. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/a...
7. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/h...
9. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegWeb/app...
10. mailto:[email address]