Dear European External Action Service,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, regarding the February 2024 trip that a delegation led by the director for Peace, Partnerships and Crisis Management at the European External Action Service (EEAS) Cosmin Dobran paid to Rwanda, I would appreciate obtaining documents containing the following information:

- A list of the delegation members, their advisors, and press secretaries on the trip.

- All the trip preparatory correspondence, including emails and call transcripts between the delegation members and Rwandan officials.

- A copy of the preparatory report was shared with the delegation members before the visit.

- The complete schedule of the visit, including all the places visited by the delegation in Rwanda.

- A list of all the Rwandan officials the delegation met during the trip, with full names and positions.

- A copy of all the working documents shared with or within the delegation members and all the available meeting notes taken during the visit.

- A copy of the final report, the conclusions document and/or any conclusive notes shared by the delegation members with the EEAS or other EU instances during or after the visit.

I prefer receiving all the content in digital format.

Thank you very much in advance for your consideration and diligence.

Yours faithfully,

Luis Miguel Hurtado Coronado
Crer. Ravaleta 5, 2on pis, 1a porta.
43110 La Canonja (Tarragona)
Spain

Dear European External Action Service,

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 'Cosmin Dobran trip to Rwanda'.

The response I received states that neither as a whole nor partially the requested information can be disclosed as per Article 4(1) (a), third indent, Article 4(1) (b) and Article 4(3), first sub-paragraph, of the Regulation.

I would like to point out that the General Court ruled in the Evropaïki Dynamiki case (T-167/10) in regard to a matter of public security that the Commission had to show how disclosure could specifically and actually undermine that objective in a way that is reasonably foreseeable and not purely hypothetical“. In the Steinberg case (T-17/10), the General Court established that there was a concrete risk of disclosure as the documents might be used to exert pressure on the relevant persons, even to make threats to their physical or moral integrity.

I would like to contend that in the present case, the Commission must examine whether the high standard of the exception is met, namely that disclosure would result into an actual threat. Likewise, Court of Justice of the EU has said that the risk to international relations must be reasonably foreseeable and not purely hypothetical. The institution must show that the document requested specifically and actually undermines the interest protected by the exception. The response I received states that "the disclosure of assessments and opinions of the EU concerning the political posture of Rwanda and other countries mentioned in the documents would be negatively perceived by such countries and therefore compromise their willingness to cooperate and share information with the EU in relation to peace, security and defence". I don't think this hypothetical statement is specific enough to warrant a blanket exemption from public disclosure; from another perspective, the way the EU handles its bilateral relationship with Rwanda is nowadays a capital matter that justifies an overriding public interest. Hence, I believe transparency should prevail.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/cosm...

Yours faithfully,

Luis Miguel Hurtado Coronado