Esta es la versiĆ³n HTML de un fichero adjunto a una solicitud de acceso a la informaciĆ³n 'EU-China Friendship Group'.

Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2021 10:25:35 +0000
Subject: Internal review of access to documents request - EU-China Friendship Group
From: Peter <xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx>
To: AccesDocs <xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxxxxx.xx>

Dear Madam, Sir,

I refer to my application for public access to documents, reference A(2021)648, and the Secretary-General's letter dated 9 March 2021.

The European Parliament has decided to refuse access to the four documents it had identified. The main reason for this decision was that disclosure would undermine the Advisory Committee's examination of a potential breach of the Code of Conduct.

"With the politically charged context of the case, in which on the one hand the press and some politicians question the propriety of the management of the EU-China Friendship Group and on the other hand, the group's chair claims the rules on informal friendship groups were respected, the public disclosure of the requested preliminary documents would undermine the serenity and integrity of the Advisory Committee's work."

This reasoning puzzles me and seems principally as misguided. It suggests that the MEPs in the Advisory Committee cannot make a fair assessment of the documents if they are public. I find it difficult to believe that the Advisory Committee could arrive at different conclusions after their examination depending on whether documents are public or not. The public or private nature of the documents does not change their contents. As for the suggestion that these documents, if made public, may be misused by 'the press and some politicians', this should be irrelevant to the Advisory Committee's decision-making process. MEPs operate in a political ecosphere, and they should be able to ignore certain public comments that are irrelevant.

The idea that the Advisory Committee can work without any comments being ever made in the public is a fiction. The ECR itself has already made part information from these documents public: see https://ecrgroup.eu/article/inta_vice_president_jan_zahradils_statement_on_the_allegations_in_politico
The public interest would therefore merit from full disclosure of the documents.

Sincerely
Peter Teffer



-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx

This message and all replies from European Parliament will be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU public officials at https://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------