UK constituion , Scottish sovereignty and Scottish independence

This request has been reported as needing administrator attention.

Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001.

By "documents", I am interpreting Article 3, paragraph (a) of Regulation 1049/2001 in its broadest sense i.e. "any content whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic form or as a sound, visual or audio-visual recording)..." My request therefore covers records of meetings, phone calls, emails, discussion documents, briefings, and any other form of communication or documentation on the below. Records of correspondence should include both outgoing and incoming correspondence.

I am requesting documents containing information regarding the following subjects:

1. Any legal advice sought, discussions or minutes of meetings which addresses the issue of the UK's constitution/s, and Scottish sovereignty within the uncodified constitution of the former EU member, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In particular, documents that mention or address the uncodified nature of the United Kingdom's constitution and the UK being founded upon the voluntary union of two separate Kingdoms, Scotland and England, and so is a union with two different equally valid constitutions.

Which, in the case of Scotland and Scots Law, judicial comment has discussed that the concept of "sovereignty of parliament" is alien to Scots Law. (Whereas, England's constitution is based on the "sovereignty of parliament" by Crown in parliament).

2. Following on from 1, Please provide any documents which contain consideration of, or discussion of the constitution of the United Kingdom. In particular, regarding whether the people of Scotland, if sovereign in Scots Law, were required to democratically approve the triggering of Article 50 and the UK's notice to leave the EU.

3. The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has repeatedly stated her opinion that a referendum on Scottish independence must be legal and in the First Minister's opinion requires a UK Government Section 30 Order under the Scotland Act, and that without such a Section 30 Order, the EU may not accept the validity of the result of a Scottish independence referendum.

4. Please supply minutes of discussions between the First Minister of the Scottish Government or any other officials of the Scottish Government and EU officials which discuss Scottish sovereignty or Scottish independence or a Scottish independence referendum.

5. Please also supply any documents where the EU has discussed or expressed an opinion or position as to the legality of a Scottish independence referendum held by the Scottish Parliament or Scottish Government without a UK approved Scotland Act section 30 order.

My name and a postal address is already registered with the EU via the EU's Register of Commissions Documents etc, so should not be required again.

Yours faithfully,

Colin White

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/...

Secretariat General of the European Commission

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email.

Could you please confirm us that the postal address you gave in EU's Register of Commissions Documents under reference Gestdem 2020/864 is the correct one?

Many thanks in advance.

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

show quoted sections

ve_sg.accessdoc (SG), Secretariat General of the European Commission

Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping

[4]Ares(2020)1082773 - RE: access to documents request - UK constituion ,
Scottish sovereignty and Scottish independence --- Ref. Gestdem 2020/867

Sent by ve_sg.accessdoc (SG) <[SG request email]>. All responses have
to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par ve_sg.accessdoc (SG) <[SG request email]>. Toutes les
réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 20/02/2020. We hereby acknowledge receipt
of your application for access to documents, which was registered on
20/02/2020 under reference number GestDem 2020/867.

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 12/03/2020. 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,

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

 

From: colin alexander <[email address]>
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2020 10:32 AM
To: SG ACCES DOCUMENTS <[email address]>
Subject: Re: access to documents request - UK constituion , Scottish
sovereignty and Scottish independence

 

Dear Sir or Madam

 

Thank you for your email.  You asked: "Could you please confirm us that
the postal address you gave in EU's Register of Commissions Documents
under reference Gestdem 2020/864 is the correct one and should also be
used for the request you introduced via AsktheEU?"

 

Yes it is the correct one: [ADDRESS REDACTED].  It is the
same address that should be used for my AsktheEU request.

 

Regards

 

Colin White

 

 

 

show quoted sections