SMS exchanges Rutte and Timmermans

Secretariat General of the European Commission did not have the information requested.

Dear Madam, Sir

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:

All text messages (i.e., SMS messages) and other mobile-phone-based text communications (e.g., WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage, Facebook Chat, SnapChat, Slack, Facebook and Twitter "direct messages," Signal Messenger, Wire, etc.) exchanged between European Commissioner Frans Timmermans and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, in the period from 1 November 2014 until 19 June 2022

Please note I prefer to receive the documents in digital format, not by physical mail.

Sincerely,
Peter Teffer
Follow the Money
Overtoom 197
1054 HT Amsterdam
The Netherlands

SG ACCES DOCUMENTS, Secretariat General of the European Commission

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail of 19/06/2022. We hereby acknowledge receipt of
your application for access to documents, which was registered on
21/06/2022 under reference number GESTDEM 2022/3550.

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 12/07/2022. In case this time limit needs to
be extended, you will be informed in due course.

You have lodged your application via 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 Commission.
For further information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s
privacy policy.

We understand that the third party running the AsktheEU.org website
usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the
Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may
have communicated to the 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 that your correspondence with the Commission is
published on a private third-party website such as AsktheEU.org, you can
provide us with an alternative, private e-mail address for further
correspondence. In that case, the Commission will send all future
electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private address,
and it will use only that private address to reply to your request. You
should still remain responsible to inform the private third-party website
about this change of how you wish to communicate with, and receive a reply
from, the Commission.

For information on how we process your personal data visit our page
Privacy statement – access to documents.

Yours faithfully,

Access to documents team (cr)
SG.C.1
Transparency

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SG ACCES DOCUMENTS, Secretariat General of the European Commission

1 Attachment

Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [3]themeData
Link: [4]colorSchemeMapping

[5]Your application for access to documents under Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 - GESTDEM 2022/3550 - 1st holding letter - Ares(2022)5069938 
(Please use this link only if you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien
exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)

Dear Mr Teffer,

 

I refer to your email of 19 June 2022, registered on 21 June 2022, by
which you submit an application for access to documents in accordance with
Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents ("Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001"), registered under the reference number above.

 

Your request is currently being handled. Unfortunately, we have not yet
been able to gather all the elements needed to carry out a full analysis
of your request and to take a final decision. Therefore, we are not in a
position to reply to your request within the prescribed time limit which
expired on 12 July 2022. Consequently, we have to extend this period by
another 15 working days in accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001. The new deadline expires on 3 August 2022. However, I can
assure you that we are doing our utmost to provide you with a final reply
within the next 15 working days.

 

I regret this additional delay and sincerely apologise for any
inconvenience this may cause.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Mariusz Daca, Ph.D.
Deputy Head of Unit

European Commission

Secretariat General

Unit C.1 (Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents)

 

 

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D895E9.4FEC3B70
2. file:///tmp/cid:editdata.mso
3. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
4. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
5. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...

Dear Madam, Sir,

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 GESTDEM 2022/3550.

The Commission informed me that it has conducted "a thorough search conducted", but did not find "any documents that would correspond to the description provided in your application".

In a different access to documents request, which was the subject of an inquiry by the European Ombudsman, the European Commission limited its search to see if any documents existed in the register.

But as the Ombudsman stated, Regulation 1049/2001 applies to all documents which the Commission holds in its possession, not just the ones that have been registered. And as the Commission has also acknowledged in response to the Ombudsman, text messages can be a document.

I would like to request that the Commission also searches for documents that meet my description in the mobile phone device of the Commissioner.

Sincerely
Peter Teffer

Sg-Acc-Doc@ec.europa.eu, Secretariat General of the European Commission

Your message has been received by the Transparency Unit of the
Secretariat-General of the European Commission.
Requests for public access to documents are treated on the basis of
[1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
The Secretariat-General will reply to your request within 15 working days
upon registration of your request and will duly inform you of the
registration of the request (or of any additional information to be
provided in view of its registration and/or treatment).
 
 
L’unité «Transparence» du secrétariat général de la Commission européenne
a bien reçu votre message.
Les demandes d’accès du public aux documents sont traitées sur la base du
[2]règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001 du 30 mai 2001 relatif à l’accès du public
aux documents du Parlement européen, du Conseil et de la Commission.
Le secrétariat général répondra à votre demande dans un délai de 15 jours
ouvrables à compter de la date d’enregistrement de votre demande, et vous
informera de cet enregistrement (ou vous indiquera toute information
supplémentaire à fournir en vue de l'enregistrement et/ou du traitement de
votre demande).
 
 
Ihre Nachricht ist beim Referat „Transparenz“ des Generalsekretariats der
Europäischen Kommission eingegangen.
Anträge auf Zugang zu Dokumenten werden auf der Grundlage der
[3]Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 vom 30. Mai 2001 über den Zugang der
Öffentlichkeit zu Dokumenten des Europäischen Parlaments, des Rates und
der Kommission behandelt.
Das Generalsekretariat beantwortet Ihre Anfrage innerhalb von
15 Arbeitstagen nach deren Registrierung und wird Sie über die
Registrierung Ihres Antrags (oder die Notwendigkeit weiterer Informationen
im Hinblick auf dessen Registrierung und/oder Bearbeitung) unterrichten.
 
 

References

Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...

SG ACCES DOCUMENTS, Secretariat General of the European Commission

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email dated 25/07/2022 by which you request, pursuant
to Regulation No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents, a review of the position taken by the
Secreatariat-General in reply to your initial application GESTDEM
2022/3550.

We hereby acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory application for access
to documents which was registered on 25/07/2022 (Ares(2022)5348432).

Your application will be handled within 15 working days (16/08/2022). In
case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due
course.

Please be informed that the answer to your confirmatory application is a
formal Commission decision that will be notified to you by express
delivery. Thank you for providing your contact phone number, so that the
external delivery service can contact you in case of absence.

Please note that the Commission will not use your phone number for any
other purpose than for informing the delivery service, and that it will
delete it immediately thereafter.

Yours faithfully,

Access to documents team (cr)
SG.C.1
Transparency

show quoted sections

Peter left an annotation ()

"Therefore, we are not in a position to reply to your confirmatory request
within the prescribed time limit which expires 16 August 2022.
Consequently, we have to extend this period by another 15 working days in accordance with Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. The new
deadline expires on 6 September 2022."

SG ACCES DOCUMENTS, Secretariat General of the European Commission

1 Attachment

Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [3]themeData
Link: [4]colorSchemeMapping

[5]Your confirmatory application for access to documents under Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 - GESTDEM 2022/3550 - 2nd holding letter -
Ares(2022)6153401  (Please use this link only if you are an Ares user –
Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)

Dear Mr Teffer,

 

I refer to your email of 25 July 2022, registered on the same day, by
which you submitted a confirmatory application in accordance with Article
7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents ("Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001"), registered under the reference number above.  I also refer to
our holding letter of 16 August 2022.

 

Your confirmatory application is currently being handled.

 

I regret to have to inform you that we will not be able to respond within
the extended time-limit which expires on 6 September 2022, as we have not
yet finalised the internal consultations concerning your request.

 

I regret this additional delay and sincerely apologise for any
inconvenience this may cause. However, I can assure you that we are doing
our utmost to provide you with a final reply as soon as possible.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Mariusz Daca, Ph.D.
Deputy Head of Unit

European Commission

Secretariat General

Unit C.1 (Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents)

 

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D8C1E9.826EF480
2. file:///tmp/cid:editdata.mso
3. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
4. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
5. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...

Peter left an annotation ()

16.09.2022
C(2022) 6781 final

"Following this review, I would like to confirm the initial position of unit C.1 ‘Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents’ that the European Commission does not hold any documents that would correspond to the description given in your application."