Meeting reports & correspondence with the Energy Charter Secretariat

Die Anfrage wurde abgelehnt durch International Partnerships.

Dear Madams & Sirs,

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) All correspondence (including emails, letters, phone conversations) between DG DEVCO officials and/or representatives (including the Commissioner and the Cabinet) and the Secretary General as well as other representatives of the Energy Charter Secretariat (since January 2018);

2) minutes and other reports of meetings between DG DEVCO officials and/or representatives (including the Commissioner and the Cabinet) and the Secretary General as well as other representatives of the Energy Charter Secretariat (since January 2018);

Yours faithfully,
Pia Eberhardt
on behalf of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Corporate Europe Observatory
26 Rue d'Edimbourg
1050 Brussels

International Partnerships

1 Attachment

Dear Madam,

 

Thank you for your letter dated 15/01/2020. We hereby acknowledge receipt
of your application for access to documents, which was registered on
15/01/2020 under reference number GestDem 2020/0275.

 

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application
will be handled within 15 working days. The time limit will expire on
05/02/2020. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.

 

You have lodged your application via the AsktheEU.org website. Please note
that this is a private third-party website which has no link with any
institution of the European Union. Therefore, the European Commission
cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to
the use of this system.

 

Please note that the private third party running the AsktheEU.org website
is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data
via that website, and not the European Commission. For further information
on your rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy.

 

We understand that the third party running that website usually publishes
the content of applicants’ correspondence with the European Commission on
that website. This includes the personal data that you may have
communicated to the European Commission (e.g. your private postal
address).

 

Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that the
Commission will send to the email address of the applicants generated by
the AsktheEU.org website.

 

If you do not wish your correspondence with the European Commission to be
published on the AsktheEU.org website, you can provide us with an
alternative, private e-mail address for further correspondence. In that
case, the European Commission will send all future electronic
correspondence addressed to you only to that private address.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

 

 

European Commission

Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

Belgium

[1]http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm

 

References

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1. http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm

International Partnerships

1 Attachment

Dear Madam,

 

We refer to your e-mail dated 15/01/2020 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 15/01/2020 under the above mentioned
reference number.

 

Your application is currently being handled. However, we will not be in a
position to complete the handling of your application within the time
limit of 15 working days, which expires on 05/02/2020.

 

An extended time limit is needed as your application concerns documents
held by different DEVCO Services, which must be consulted.

Therefore, we have to extend the time limit with 15 working days in
accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 26/02/2020.

 

We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

DEVCO F.1

 

[1]cid:image001.png@01D2CE3F.C84767B0

 

Unit F1

"Middle East/Gulf, Central Asia, South Asia "

J-54  06/017

B-1049 Brussels/Belgium

 

References

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Dear Madams & Sirs,

the extended deadline for my request ended yesterday (26/02), but I have not received a response or heard anything else from you. Could you please update me on the status of the request and let me know when I will receive the requested information?

Yours faithfully,

Pia Eberhardt

International Partnerships

Dear Ms Pia Eberhardt,

 

We apologise for the delay in the handling of your request registered
under reference GESTDEM 2020/0275. We assure you, we are processing it and
you will receive the documents in the shortest delay as possible.
Unfortunately, the processing is taking more time than anticipated.

 

Thank you for your understanding and apologies for the inconvenience,

 

Kind regards,

 

Sara Sanseverinati

Dear Sara Sanseverinati,

thank you very much for your response and for processing my request.

I understand that this might be difficult, but could you inform me what you expect to be "the shortest delay possible"? Are you working under the assumption that the reply will be ready in a week or two? Or should I prepare for an even longer delay that might take months? A rough estimate of a new deadline would help me consider the next steps. Thank you for considering this!

Yours faithfully,

Pia Eberhardt

Dear Madams & Sirs,

could you please update me on the status of my request GestDem 2020/0275 and at least indicate when I can expect a response?

The extended deadline you had given expired on 26/02. On 02/03 you informed me that I would "receive the documents in the shortest delay possible". On 03/02 I asked whether you "could you inform me what you expect to be "the shortest delay possible"?" adding that "a rough estimate of a new deadline would help me consider the next steps." But I haven't heard from you since.

I would still really appreciate a rough indication of when you expect to send me the requested documents (ie will it be another week, another month or do you expect it to take even longer?).

Many thanks for considering this.

Yours faithfully,

Pia Eberhardt

International Partnerships

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Eberhardt,

 

We apologise for the late answer. Several requests with the same topic
have been sent to different Commission services, therefore we are in need
of coordination among DGs and of further assessment the documents.
Approximately, I could tell that in one-month time we would be able to
send a proper reply.

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

Sara Sanseverinati

Administrative Agent

 

[1]cid:image001.png@01D5C543.A2217500
European Commission
Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development

Unit C.6 – Sustainable Energy and Climate Change   

L-41 08/018  tel: 58125

B-1049 Brussels/Belgium

 

 

 

References

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International Partnerships

 

Dear Ms Eberhardt,

 

We would like to inform you that the handling of your request registered
under reference GESTDEM 2020/0275 is facing some delays due to
extraordinary circumstances related to the Covid-19 crisis and
unfortunately it will take more time than anticipated.

We want to let you know that DG DEVCO is consulting with third parties
regarding documents whose copyright do not belong to the Commission.

 

Your request is being processed to provide you with a reply as soon as
possible.

 

Thank you for your understanding and apologies for the inconvenience.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Sara Sanseverinati

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Madams & Sirs,

it is now five and a half months since I filed my request in mid January - weeks before any Corona lockdown in Europe. And it's one and a half months since you informed me that you were consulting with third parties, but were trying to provide me with a response as soon as possible. Could you please provide me with the requested documents without any further delay?

Yours faithfully,

Pia Eberhardt

Dear Madams & Sirs,

it's now more than 6 months since I filed my access to documents requests GestDem 2020/0275 and two and a half months since I last heard from you (when you were consulting with third parties). Could you please provide me with the requested documents without any further delay or at least inform me when you expect to be able to send me the respective documents?

Yours faithfully,

Pia Eberhardt

SIGNORE Stefano(DEVCO), International Partnerships

4 Attachments

Dear Ms Eberhardt,

We warmly apologize for the lengthy procedure and for letting you wait for a proper answer after you relaunched several times. Please find attached the final reply and the annex describing the nature of the documents.
Following the third party consultation, unfortunately we have to confirm the non-disclosure of the documents and emails you requested, produced through exchanges between DG DEVCO and the Energy Charter Secretariat from January 1st 2018 onward.
It has been concluded 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.

Please be informed that, 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 Brussels
or by email to: [email address]

Yours faithfully,

SIGNORE Stefano
Head of Unit C.6
Sustainable Energy and Climate Change
DG DEVCO
European Commission

Please find attached document Ares(2020)3871305 from DOENS Koen (DEVCO) dated 22/07/2020.