EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 23.03.2022
C(2022) 1952 final
Ms Carlotta Indiano
Investigative Reporting Project Italy
Viale Giulio Cesare, 92
00192 Roma - Italy
DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 4 OF THE
IMPLEMENTING RULES TO REGULATION (EC) NO 1049/20011
Subject: Your confirmatory application for access to documents – GESTDEM
2022/0032
Dear Ms Indiano,
I am writing in reference to your email of 28 January 2022, registered on the same day, by
which you lodge a confirmatory application in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and
Commission documents2 (hereafter ‘Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001’).
Through your initial application of 22 December 2021, you requested access to:
‘For the period between November 2020 to April 2021:
- a list of all meetings and/or calls held by the Directorate-General for Budget, including any
Cabinet Members of the Commissioner Johannes Hahn and/or officials, during which the
Italian Resilience and Recovery Plan was discussed together with any members of the
Italian government. The list should include: date, individuals attending and organisational
affiliation, as well as the issues discussed;
- all minutes and other reports of these meetings and/or calls;
- all documents prepared for the purpose of the meetings issued both in preparation and after
the meetings took place. - all correspondence, including attachments (i.e. any emails, mail
correspondence or telephone call notes) between the Directorate-General for Budget,
including any Cabinet Members of the Commissioner Johannes Hahn and/or officials, and
any members of the Italian government discussing the Italian PNRR.’
1
Official Journal L 345, 29.12.2001, p. 94.
2
Official Journal L145, 31.05.2001, p. 43.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
By letter of 25 January 2022, the Directorate-General for Budget informed you that it was
not able to identify any documents as falling within the scope of your request.
In your confirmatory application, you do not question the absence of any documents within
the scope of your initial request. However, you reiterate your request by asking, I quote: ‘…
if there is a list of documents exchanged in electronic form or by mail between the
Directorate-General for Budget, including any Cabinet Members of the Commissioner
Johannes Hahn and any members of the Italian government for the period between
November 2020 to April 2021. If you have such a list or there is any other correspondence
between the DG Budget and the Italian government, I would like to have access to those
documents.’
Please note that when assessing a confirmatory application for access to documents
submitted pursuant to Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the Secretariat-
General conducts a review of the reply given by the Directorate-General concerned at the
initial stage.
Pursuant to the settled case law3, a confirmatory application can only be submitted to invite
the Commission to reconsider its initial position on the document(s) already requested and
not to submit an application for access to other documents.
Therefore, it is not possible to broaden the scope of the request at the confirmatory stage.
This can only be done via the submission of a new initial application. You remain entitled to
submit a new initial application for access to other documents in accordance with Article
7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
Against this background, the European Commission has carried out a renewed, thorough
search for the documents requested. Following this renewed search, I confirm that the
Commission does not hold any documents that would correspond to the description given in
your application.
Indeed, as specified in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the right of access as
defined in that regulation applies only to existing documents in the possession of the
institution.
As already explained to you in the initial reply, no meetings or discussions were held
between Commissioner Hahn, members or his cabinet, staff of the Commission Directorate-
General for Budget and members of the Italian government about the Italian Resilience and
Recovery Plan in the period to which you refer. Therefore, the Commission does not hold
any documents that would correspond to the description given in your application.
Please note that by ‘the members of Italian government’ as referred to in your requests we
consider only members of the government, i.e. Prime Minister and Ministers, and not the
administrative members of Italian administration.
3 Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 10 February 2021,
XC v European Commission, T-
488/18, EU:T:2021:76, paragraph 168.
2
The General Court held in Case T-468/16 (
Verein Deutsche Sprache v
Commission) that
there exists a presumption of lawfulness attached to the declaration by the institution
asserting that documents do not exist4. This presumption continues to apply, unless the
applicant can rebut it by relevant and consistent evidence5. The Court of Justice, ruling on
an appeal in Case C-440/18 P, has confirmed these conclusions6.
In your confirmatory application, you do not provide evidence that the institution is in
possession of any further documents corresponding to the description provided in your
application. The General Court held in Case T-468/16 (
Verein Deutsche Sprache v
Commission) that a mere suspicion that there must be more documents does not suffice to
put in question the presumption of legality of the institution’s statement7.
Given that the European Commission does not hold any such documents corresponding to
the description given in your application, it is not in a position to fulfil your request.
Finally, I draw your attention to the means of redress available against this decision. You
may either bring proceedings before the General Court or file a complaint with the
European Ombudsman under the conditions specified respectively in Articles 263 and 228
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Yours sincerely,
For the Commission
Ilze JUHANSONE
Secretary-General
4 Judgment of the General Court of 23 April 2018,
Verein Deutsche Sprache v
Commission, T-468/16,
EU:T:2018:207, paragraphs 35-36.
5
Ibid.
6 Order of the Court of Justice of 30 January 2019,
Verein Deutsche Sprache v
Commission, C-440/18 P,
EU:T:2018:207, paragraph 14.
7
Verein Deutsche Sprache v
Commission judgment,
cited
above, paragraph 37.
3