Ref. Ares(2021)5523124 - 08/09/2021
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
NEIGHBOURHOOD AND ENLARGEMENT NEGOTIATIONS
The acting Director-General
Brussels
Subject: Your application for access to documents – Ref. GestDem 2021/4684
Dear Ms Verheecke,
I refer to your application dated 22 July 20211, registered on 23 July 2021 under the
above-mentioned reference number2 in which you made a request for access to:
“
I am requesting for the period between 30 November 2015 to date, a list of all meetings
held by your DG with the following representatives: Shell, BP, Total, ENI, Repsol, Galp
and Equinor”.
I also refer to your email of 26 July 20213 in response to our request for clarification
where we tried to reduce the scope to a certain region or hierarchical level, in which you
stated that:
“I am asking for a list of all the meetings, with all your staff, for the period between 30
November 2015 to date, between your staff members and representatives of the following
companies: Shell, BP, Total, ENI, Repsol, Galp and Equinor”.
You have made your request “under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties,
as developed in Regulation 1049/2001”, and we have handled it accordingly.
As your request concerned meetings held at all hierarchical levels of DG NEAR and to
all geographic areas within the remit of our Directorate General, we consulted the
Director-General and Deputy-Directors General offices as well as all the Directorates as
follows:
- Directorate A: Strategy and Turkey.
- Directorate B: Neighbourhood South.
- Directorate C: Neighbourhood East and Institution Building.
1 Ref. Ares(2021)4747377.
2 Ref. Ares(2021)4747415.
3 Ref. Ares(2021)4999055.
Ms Lora Verheecke
Rue du Bronze 9
1070 Bruxelles
Belgium
By email only:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
- Directorate D: Western Balkans.
- Directorate R: Resources (such as legal issues, finance and contracts, audit).
We also consulted the Cabinet of the Commissioner VÁRHELYI.
I regret to inform you that neither the Cabinet nor DG NEAR hold any documents that
would correspond to the description given in your application. However, below you can
find some information on workshops and business forums attended.
The EU Delegation Azerbaijan informed that BP and TOTAL have been invited to the
EU Azerbaijan Business Forums of 2017, 2018 and 2019 as other companies in country.
At DG NEAR in Brussels, some encounters took place with presence of ENI Brussels
office staff in the framework of outreach workshops to private investors around
November 2017 and March 2018 on the European Fund for Sustainable Development
(EFSD).
DG INTPA (back then DG DEVCO) was on the lead for planning and managing these
workshops and organised joint presentations with DG NEAR (current unit A3:
“Thematic support, Economic Development & IFIs, Public Administration Reform”) on
the EFSD guarantee. To request more detailed information, you may refer to DG INTPA,
unit E4 that managed the One Stop Shop for EFSD.
The Cabinet of the Commissioner VÁRHELYI has reported that a meeting took place in
February 2020 between Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi and a representative from
TOTAL to discuss the role of gas in the energy transition and the Green Deal.
As specified in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/20014, the right of access as
defined in that regulation applies only to existing documents in the possession of the
institution.
Given that no such documents, corresponding to the description given in your
application, are held by DG NEAR, DG NEAR is not in a position to fulfil your request.
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, you are entitled to make
a confirmatory application requesting the Commission to review this position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt
of this letter to the Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Transparency,
Document
Management
&
Access
to
Documents
(SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels
or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
4 Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding
public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, Official Journal L 145 of 31
May 2001, p. 43.
2
[e-signed]
Maciej Popowski
3
Electronically signed on 08/09/2021 15:41 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482