Christian Berger's 10 October 2009 letter concerning Page Protective Services

Maximilian Henning made this access to documents request to European External Action Service

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The request was refused by European External Action Service.

Dear European External Action Service,

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

The letter dated 10 October 2009 by Christian Berger, then head of the EU Delegation to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and adressed to Thierry De Saint Maurice concerning the performance of Page Protective Services and mentioned in the following two articles: https://euobserver.com/very-private/119988 and https://euobserver.com/very-private/119834

Yours faithfully,

Maximilian Henning

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Mr Maximilian Henning,

This message is an acknowledgement of receipt for your request for access to document under Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (which the EEAS is also respecting).

Your request for access to document have been registered under reference number: 2022/030. Please refer to this number in any further correspondence.

In accordance with the Regulation, you will receive a reply within 15 working days at the latest: 15/03/2022.

Yours sincerely,

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG.2 – Parliamentary Affairs
_______________________________________

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EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Mr Henning,

Your application is currently being handled. However, we are not in a position to complete the handling of your application within the time limit of 15 working days.
We therefore, exceptionally, need to extend the deadline for reply by an additional 15 working days.

Thank you for your understanding,

Yours sincerely,

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG.2 – Parliamentary Affairs

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Mr Henning,

Your application is currently being handled. However, we are not in a position to complete the handling of your application within the time limit, due to special circumstances [article 7(3) and 8(2) of the Regulation] – force majeure - current working arrangements due to the pandemics.

We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause. We will make every effort to process your request as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your understanding,

Yours sincerely,

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG.2 – Parliamentary Affairs

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Henning,

 

On behalf of Mr Penalver Garcia please find attached the reply to your
request for access to documents.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS (AD)

[1][EEAS request email]

SG.2 – Parliamentary Affairs

 

References

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1. mailto:[EEAS request email]

Maximilian Henning

Dear European External Action Service,

Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.

I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Christian Berger's 10 October 2009 letter concerning Page Protective Services'.

I would like to ask you to reconsider your decision for the following reasons:

1. The Article 4(1)(b) exception could be covered through partial non-disclosure.

The document could be partially disclosed, omitting all personal information. This is usual practice in order to cover privacy concerns in access to document requests.

2. The harm test under Article 4(2), first indent has not been explicitly proven.

The General Court of the Court of Justice has confirmed that simply because a document concerns an interest protected by an exception, that is not sufficient to make it subject to that exception. It is not sufficient that the disclosure of a document could bring a hypothetical harm to a protected interest; there must be a reasonably foreseeable risk (Case T-233/09, judgement of 22 March 2011, ECLI:EU:T:2011:105). A claim of harm does not concretely demonstrate the potential of this harm to such an extent that it would compensate denying the fundamental right of access to documents.

2. The overriding public interest test under Article 4(2) in disclosure has not been properly considered.

The request covers a document concerned with alleged failures of a company contracted by the EU to carry out its assigned task. There is a large public interest in information concerning the effectiveness of EU spending. This only increases in a field such as private security, for which the EU Parliament has recently passed a resolution condemning the use of EU money to fund private security companies with questionable records (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/doc...). This public interest should be considered when deciding on the non-disclosure of the document.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/chris...

Yours faithfully,

Maximilian Henning

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Mr Henning,

 

This message is an acknowledgement of receipt for your confirmatory
application requesting for a review of our reply, dated 12 April 2022,
under Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents (which the EEAS is also respecting).

 

Your confirmatory application has the same reference number 2022/030 as
the initial one. Please refer to this number in any further
correspondence.

 

In accordance with the Regulation, you will receive a reply within 15
working days: 17/5/2022.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

EEAS Access to Documents

[1][EEAS request email]

SG.AFFGEN.2 – Parliamentary Affairs

 

References

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1. mailto:[EEAS request email]

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Henning,

 

On behalf of Mr Di Vita please find attached the reply to your
confirmatory request for access to documents.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

[1][EEAS request email]

SG.2 – Parliamentary Affairs

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[EEAS request email]