Costs of cleaning the European Parliament Strasbourg Building

La solicitud fue rechazada por Parlamento Europeo.

Dear European Parliament,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information on the Strasbourg Building of the European Parliament:

1. How many glass panels (i.e. windows – internal and external -- that need cleaning regularly) are there in the building?

2. If you were to take out all of the glass panels and put them side-by-side, how big would the combined total be – in square feet (or metres)?

3. What is the window cleaning company currently employed that carries out the cleaning?

4. What size is the physical building (height and total floor space in square feet or metres)?

5. How much does it cost to clean all of the glass panels the building has? A preferable answer would be an annual cost, but if the cleaning isn’t every year, then how much every effort costs would be appreciated.

6. How often are the glass panels cleaned, and on average, how long does this take and how many cleaners are needed?

7. Are there any special hazards the cleaners need to be aware of when cleaning the glass panels of the building? Or specific instructions that may be of interest that are unique to it? (For example, are there specific cleaning agents that need to be used, or others that cannot be used, or things that must be done for health and safety reasons.)

8. How much is spent on cleaning the building altogether in a given year? (This does not have to be solely about cleaning glass panels or windows).

9. Who pays for the cleaning? (i.e. taxpayer or private expenses)

Yours faithfully,

Neil Wright

AccesDocs, Parlamento Europeo

 

OUR REF A(2019)1196

 

Dear Mr. Wright

 

On 29 January 2019, you submitted via the AsktheEU.org website, nine
information requests concerning the cleaning of the Strasbourg building of
the European Parliament. You referred to your right of access to documents
as enshrined in  the Treaties of the European Union and developed in the
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

 

While acknowledging receipt of your application, the European Parliament
regrets to inform you that your request for information is inadmissible
under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

 In this respect,  Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 clearly
states that  "This Regulation shall apply to all documents held by an
institution, that is to say, documents drawn up or received by it and in
its possession, in all areas of activity of the European Union.". The
following Article 3(a) specifies that " (a) ‘document’ shall mean any
content whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic form
or as a sound, visual or audiovisual recording) concerning a matter
relating to the policies, activities and decisions falling within the
institution's sphere of responsibility;".

 

As underlined in the abovementioned Regulation and repeatedly stated by
the Court of Justice of the European Union, the public's right of access
to documents of the EU Institutions only covers existing documents and not
information in the wider meaning of the word and does not imply a duty on
the part of the institutions to reply to any request for information from
an individual.

 

Moreover, the information you are seeking access to should be soon
available in a new call for tender, which Parliament will publish on the
Official Journal of the European Union soon, in order to purchase cleaning
services as from 2020.  Should you be interested in the invitations to
tender issued by the European Parliament, we invite you to visit the web
page:

[1]http://www.europarl.europa.eu/eng-pub/co...

 

Parliament takes this opportunity to remind you that Parliament's Public
Register of Documents allows for direct access to documents drafted by the
European Parliament in the context of its legislative work:
[2]http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWe...

The Public Register allows for easy search, using key words or/and
specific reference, which can be combined for a targeted search.

 

Finally, your attention is drawn to the fact that you have lodged your
application via the AsktheEU.org website, which is a private website not
officially related to the European Parliament. Therefore, the European
Parliament cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems
linked to the use of this system. Should you identify specific document(s)
of the European Parliament you would like obtain access to, do not
hesitate to submit a new request via Parliament's website: 
[3]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreW...

 

Kind regards,

 

TRANSPARENCY – ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

PRES | Directorate General for the Presidency

Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination

[email address]

 

 

 

 

 

References

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1. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/eng-pub/co...
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWe...
3. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreW...