Our reference: EP(2021)010899– acknowledgement of receipt

Dear Mr Nielsen,

The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your application
for public access to documents, which was registered on 23/04/2021.

All requests for public access to documents are treated in compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.

In accordance with the above-mentioned Regulation, your application will
be handled within 15 working days upon registration of your request.

Your personal data will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU)
2018/1725 of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with
regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions,
bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data.

The European Parliament reserves the right to ask for additional
information regarding your identity in order to verify compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the European Parliament’s implementing
measures.

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.

In addition, please note that any personal data that you provide by using
AsktheEU.org website may be disclosed to the general public and visible on
this private website. The European Parliament cannot be held responsible
for such disclosure. Should you need to communicate directly to Parliament
any personal data and would like to avoid public disclosure, you may do so
from your private email address by using the following functional mailbox
address: AccesDocs(at)europarl.europa.eu

Kind regards,

[1]cid:image001.png@01D58B31.E2CF1C20 TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the
Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional
Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[2][email address]
[3]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb

References

Visible links
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb

Our reference: EP(2021)010899

Dear Mr Nielsen,

The time limit for responding to your application of 23 April 2021 for
public access to documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 expires on
18 May 2021.

However, the internal consultation with regard to your request requires
more time than expected, so that Parliament must exceptionally extend the
time limit provided by Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 by a
further 15 working days (to 8 June) in accordance with Article 7(3) of
that Regulation in order to reply to your application.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. We thank you for your
understanding.

Best regards,

TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb

Our reference: EP(2021)010899

Dear Mr Nielsen,

On 23 April 2021, the European Parliament registered your application,
which Parliament understands to concern public access to:

(1)    documents reporting the figures provided by the Secretary General
in his reply to question 42 of the questionnaire in preparation for the
2014 discharge relating to the resources necessary in order to ensure a
financial control mechanism of the general expenditure allowance; and

(2)    documents underlying those figures.

Regarding point (1) of your application, the following documents have been
identified as relevant to your application:

-          the questionnaire submitted in preparation for the 2014
discharge ([1]available here);

-          the resolution concerning Parliament’s 2014 discharge
([2]available here); and

-          the follow-up to the 2013 discharge ([3]available here).

Regarding point (2) of  your application the following documents have been
identified as relevant to your application:

-          Cost estimates for two scenarios for the control of the general
expenditure allowance (GEA).

The document identified under point (2) of your application has been
drafted in the context of the discussion on the control of the GEA at the
time, in order for the administration to provide information to the
political debate. Scenario 1 represents establishing sample based control
over the GEA in order to provide a reasonable degree of assurance, while
scenario 2 represents gaining total control of all expenses.

The exact figures in terms of staff resources in question, namely the
40-75 staff mentioned in all documents identified under point (1) of your
application, are based on an extrapolation of the workload related to the
financial settlements regarding Non Attached MEPs, a calculation that was
chiefly made during informal exchanges. The mentioned financial
settlements regarding Non Attached MEPs represented the closest type of
calculation that could be found at the time to respond to the relevant
queries in the context of the discharge. This is because Parliament
already does the type of work that would be implied by checking
GEA-related documents as regards the expenses of Non Attached MEPs under
budget line 400.

On this basis, Parliament considers your application as handled and the
file closed. Should you have any new requests for specific Parliament
documents, please do not hesitate to come back to us.

Kind regards,

[4]cid:image001.png@01D75D54.62C48000 TRANSPARENCY UNIT

 
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the
Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional
Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[5][European Parliament request email]
[6]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb

References

Visible links
1. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/95...
2. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/doc...
3. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/89...
5. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
6. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb