Trilogue negotiations documents
Dear European Parliament,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting:
All 4-column documents regarding trilogue negotiations for:
- the Regulation on European Border and Coast Guard 2018/0330 (COD); and
- the Directive on Protection of persons reporting breaches of Union law 2018/0106 (COD).
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any clarification in regards to any aspect of my request.
Thank you in advance.
Yours faithfully,
Luisa Izuzquiza
Dear Ms Izuzquiza,
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your application
for access to documents, which was registered on 01 /03/2019 under the
reference A(2019)2587.
All requests for public access to documents are treated in compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
In accordance with the above-mentioned Regulation, your application will
be handled within 15 working days upon registration of your request.
The European Parliament reserves the right to ask for additional
information regarding your identity in order to verify compliance with
Regulation (UE) 2018/1725 and the European Parliament’s implementing
measures.
Your attention is drawn to the fact that you have lodged your application
via the AsktheEU.org website, which is a private website not officially
related to the European Parliament. Therefore, the European Parliament
cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to
the use of this system.
Best regards,
TU
[1]LOGO_EP TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate General
for the Presidency
Directorate for
Inter-Institutional
Affairs
and Legislative
Coordination
[2]Public Register webpage
[3][email address]
References
Visible links
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegWeb/app...
3. mailto:[email address]
Dear European Parliament,
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 'Trilogue negotiations documents'. To this regard, I would like to state:
First, that the deadline for the European Parliament to respond to this request is now long overdue, in violation of Article 7 (1) of Regulation 1049/2001.
Second, that there is no reason for the Parliament to delay my request. As the General Court of the European Union has stated in its judgment in case T-450/15 (de Capitani v European Parliament), 4-column documents have to be given out on request.
There is no room for the Parliament to deliberate on this matter. As regulation 1049/2001 has set out a reasonable timeframe for answering such requests, overstepping these is not acceptable. According to Article 12 (2), “legislative documents, that is to say, documents drawn up or received in the course of procedures for the adoption of acts which are legally binding in or for the Member States, should, subject to Articles 4 and 9, be made directly accessible.” The requested documents fall under this article.
As the General Court notes, the recourse to informal trilogues is frequent: “The legislature itself recognises them as an integral part of the legislative procedure, being used in 70 to 80% of legislative procedures.” As there is an obvious urgency to be transparent about these ongoing procedures, an extension of the time limit in this case appears to seriously undermine the effect of Regulation 1049/2001.
The European Parliament should therefore comply both with the above-cited EU case law and with Article 7 (1) of Regulation 1049, and release the requested documents "promptly".
Thank you in advance.
Yours faithfully,
Luisa Izuzquiza
Our ref.: A(2019)2587
Dear Ms Izuzquiza,
In reply your application A(2019)2587, Parliament published the documents you requested access to on its public register of documents. Please find the links to the publications herewith:
COD(2018)0330
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWe...
COD(2018)0106
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWe...
Contrary to what you assert in below email, the Court did not rule in case T-450/15 de Capitani v European Parliament that all 4 column documents have to be given out on request. It ruled that Parliament had not stated valid reasons to refuse access to the multicolumn tables at issue in that case, and it annulled Parliament’s decision to refuse access to the 4 columns documents at issue in that case accordingly. As stated in paragraph 86 of the judgment, the Court stressed that the case was “concerned solely with access to the fourth column of the documents at issue, which may take place only on specific request lodged pursuant to that regulation” and that it did not concern direct access to trilogue documents. Besides, the Court did not exclude that the risk of external pressures could constitute a legitimate ground for restricting access to some multicolumn tables.
Parliament assesses applications for public access to trilogue multicolumn tables as required by Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and also in light of case T-450/15 de Capitani v European Parliament. Since multicolumn tables are produced by and shared between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission, Parliament may have to consult the Council and the Commission on the full /partial disclosure of the same documents, in line with Article 4(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
In view of the foregoing, Parliament considers your application A(2019)2481 as handled and closes the file. However, please do not hesitate to file a new application should you be interested in accessing other parliamentary documents.
With apologies for the delay, kind regards,
TU
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate General for the Presidency
Directorate for Inter-Institutional Affairs
and Legislative Coordination
Public Register webpage
[email address]