Relations between the EU and Saudi Arabia
Dear European External Action Service,
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:
Communication between the EEAS and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since January 1 2015 regarding different areas of cooperation and/or exchange of views between the two entities.
I am aware of the fact that some of the content of the requested documents might fall under one or several exceptions in the Regulation 1049/2001. Should that be the case I understand that I'm entitled to the non-sensivite parts of the documents as reflected in the judgement in case C-335/99P, Council v. Heidi Hautala.
Yours faithfully,
Staffan Dahllöf
[postal address]
[postal address]
[postal address]
Dear Mr Dahllöf,
This message is an acknowledgement of receipt for your request for access
to documents under Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (which the EEAS is
also respecting).
Your request for access to documents has been registered under reference
number: 2015/D058
Please refer to this number in any further correspondence.
In accordance with the Regulation, you will receive a reply within 15
working days: 16/04/2015.
Yours faithfully,
ACCES TO DOCUMENTS (AD)
[1][email address]
SG1 – Corporate Board Secretariat
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1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Mr Dahllöf,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 23/3/2014, requesting access to documents
under Regulation No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents (that the EEAS is also
respecting).
We understand from your request that you would like to have access to
"Communication between the EEAS and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since
January 1 2015 regarding different areas of cooperation and/or exchange of
views between the two entities".
Your request lacked sufficient details. There is no document which is a
catalogue as such. Should you then identify more precisely which
document(s) or kind of documents you are interested in, we will be pleased
to help you further.
Yours faithfully,
EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[1][EEAS request email]
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)
References
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1. mailto:[EEAS request email]
Dear EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS,
Thank you for a quick reply to my request where you claim it lacks sufficient details.
This puts me in a somewhat ”Catch-22-like” situation as my interest is to understand what kind of contacts there has been between EEAS and Saudi Arabia in 2015.
I'm thus interested in in- and outgoing correspondence with Saudi Arabia regarding official visits, trade agreements, political talks, cultural events or other matters brought up by either EEAS or Saudi Arabian authorities on different levels.
I'm also interested in documents drawn up by EEAS about Saudi Arabia but not necessarily shared with Saudi authorities, such as descriptions and/or evaluations of the relations between EU and the kingdom.
Hoping this clarifies my interest I look forward to your handling of my request
Yours sincerely,
Staffan Dahllöf
Dear Mr Dahllöf,
Our services are still examining your request for access to documents.
Exceptionally, we need to extend the deadline for reply by additional 15
working days in accordance with Article 7.3 of Regulation 1049/2011 for
the reply to be adequately validated.
Thank you for your understanding,
Yours faithfully,
EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[1][EEAS request email]
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)
References
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1. mailto:[EEAS request email]
Dear EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS,
Thank you for informing me, although I can't helping getting the feeling that the presumed 15 working day is not longer the rule but rather an exception from 30 days, an observation I might consider share with the Ombudsman at an later stage.
Yours sincerely,
Staffan Dahllöf
Dear Mr Dahllöf,
On behalf of Mr. Maerten please find attached the reply to your request
for access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[1][EEAS request email]
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)
References
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1. mailto:[EEAS request email]
Dear EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS,
European External Action Service
Dear Claude Maerten
Thank you very much for your reply to my request for documents regarding communication between EEAS and Saudi Arabia (2015/58) via Asktheeu.org, and thank you for the three released documents.
As for the remaining two documents I hereby ask you to review your position with the following arguments in mind:
I understand you have consulted the Saudi authorities who objected to the release of said documents. At the same time I understand that such an objection from a third party in itself cannot motivate a non-disclosure, following the judgement in case C-135/11P (IFAW Internationaler Tierschutz-Fonds gGmbH v European Commission).
In this respect I fail to see that the fact that the third party is the Government of a third country in it self is a legal argument for non-disclosure as there is no such reference in regulation 1049/2001.
To the best of my understanding these factors imply that EEAS would have to motivate in what way international relations would be undermined with references to the content of each of the two requested documents. I believe this follows from the judgment in T-174/95 (Svenska Journalistförbundet v Council of the EU).
Also should full access not be granted, I would ask you to review the decision not to give partial access to the content of the two documents , with references to the judgement C-353/99 (Council v Hautala). I seems to me unlikely that the whole content in both document would be equally integral to the sensitive parts.
Finally I would like to add that the processing of my request now has been going on since March 23, including consultations with the Saudi authorities and I therefor assume this confirmatory application can be processed within the 15 stipulated working days.
Yours sincerely,
Staffan Dahllöf