Financial resources provided to Greece for dealing with migration issues

The request was refused by Budget.

Dear DG Budget,

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:

What is the annual amount of money the European Union provided Greece with from the EU budget to support the Member State in dealing with challenges connected to migration in the years 2015 - 2019. Please list the concrete respective purpose for each payment.

What is the annual amount of money the European Union provided other Member States with from the EU budget to support them in dealing with challenges connected to migration in the years 2015 - 2019. Please list the concrete respective purpose for each payment.

If possible please deliver the numbers in an Excel file.

Yours faithfully,

Teresa Reiter

Dear Ms Reiter,
 
Thank you for your request for access to documents.
 
Unfortunately you have not indicated your postal address which is required
for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural
requirements. Please send us your full postal address at your earliest
convenience. Pending your reply, we reserve the right to refuse the
registration of your request.
 
You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your
request:
[1]http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...
 
Yours sincerely,
 
DG Budget Access to Documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Budget
Unit 03 – Strategic Coordination and Communication
[DG BUDG request email]
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
 
 
 

show quoted sections

Dear DG Budget,

I have already given you my full name and my email address. I would prefer to receive the information in digital form and this is also my right under Regulation 1049/2001 if the information I requested exists in that format which I highly suspect. Please also be so kind to explain to me why you would need my postal address for this kind of request.

Yours faithfully,

Teresa Reiter

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Reiter,
 
With respect to your questions regarding the provision of a postal
address, please find our explanations below.
 
On 1 April 2014, the postal address became a mandatory feature for the
purpose of introducing a request for access to documents.
 
The decision to ask for a postal address from applicants for access to
documents was triggered by the following considerations:
 

* The need to obtain legal certainty as regards the date of receipt of
the reply by the applicant under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Indeed,
as foreseen by Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU), […] decisions which specify to whom they are
addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are addressed and
shall take effect upon such notification. Replies triggering the
possibility for administrative or judicial redress are therefore
transmitted via registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt. This
requires an indication of a valid postal address by the applicant;

 

* The need to direct the Commission's scarce resources first of all to
those requests which have been filed by "real" applicants. With only a
compulsory indication of an e-mail address, applicants can easily
introduce requests under an invented identity or under the identity of
a third person. Asking for a postal address helps the Commission to
protect the administration, as well as other citizens and legal
persons, from abuse;

 

* For similar reasons, asking for a compulsory indication of a postal
address enables the Commission services to verify whether Article 6(3)
of the Regulation, on voluminous requests, is being evaded by
introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in
its Ryanair judgment, the General Court confirmed that Article 6(3)
cannot be evaded by splitting the application into a number of
applications. The Commission would like to point out that, in
2012/2013, it received some 57 confirmatory requests from what it
suspects to be one single applicant operating under 13 different
identities;

 

* Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident in the sense of
Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is a precondition for the
purpose of correctly applying the exception in Article 4(1)(b) of
Regulation  (EC) No 1049/2001 (protection of the privacy and integrity
of the individual), which has to be interpreted in accordance with
Data Protection Regulation 45/2001. Article 9 of Regulation 45/2001
requires the adequacy of the level of protection afforded by the third
country or international organisation when transmitting personal data
to third-country residents or legal persons. It follows that, in case
of requests for documents which include personal data, the correct
application of the data protection rules cannot be ensured in the
absence of a postal address enabling the Commission to ascertain that
the minimum data protection standards will be respected.

 
All of these considerations show that the request for and the consequent
processing of a postal address is not only appropriate but also strictly
necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest
within the meaning of Article 5 (a) of Data Protection Regulation 45/2001,
namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
 
The Commission has been applying this approach since 1 April 2014, because
of numerous problems encountered by the Commission in its previous
practice (legal uncertainty, false identities used etc.). We also would
like to point out that other institutions, such as the Court of Justice,
already ask for the address in their respective electronic forms for
access to documents requests.
 
We therefore kindly reiterate our request to you to provide a full postal
address, so we can duly register and handle your request. Please note
that, once we receive your postal address, we will register your request
for access as an initial application for access to documents in the
meaning of Article 6(1) of Regulation  (EC) No 1049/2001. The deadline for
handling your initial request shall run as from the moment of registration
of your request following the submission of your postal address.
 
Thank you in advance.
 
Your sincerely,
 
 
DG Budget Access to Documents team

European Commission
Directorate-General for Budget
Unit 03 – Strategic Coordination and Communication
[1][DG BUDG request email]
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
 

show quoted sections