Ceci est une version HTML d'une pièce jointe de la demande d'accès à l'information 'Meetings with churches'.



EUROPEAN COMMISSION 
Ref. Ares(2019)1336670 - 27/02/2019
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL JUSTICE AND CONSUMERS 
 
Directorate C : Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law 
  Unit C2 : Fundamental Rights Policy 
Head of Unit  
 
 
 
Brussels, 27 February 2019 
JUST/C2 /(2019) s 
 
 
 
 
 
Subject: 
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2019/0757 
Dear Ms Marti, 
We refer to your email dated 02/02/2019 in which you make a request to the European 
Commission for access to documents. Your request was registered on 08/02/2019, under 
the above-mentioned reference number. 
You requested the following: 
1) A list of all the meetings held from January 2012 between churches, religious 
associations or communities as well as philosophical and non-confessional 
organisations and Ms Katharina von Schnurbein and/ or Mr Vincent Depaigne.  

2) Each meeting should include the date; the participants and their roles; the place; and 
any information produced or exchanged (agenda, minutes, notes, documents, 
presentations, etc.). 

Your application concerns a very large number of documents and data, which need to be 
collected and assessed individually. Such a detailed analysis cannot be carried out within the 
normal time limits set out in Article 7 of Regulation 1049/2001. 
However, the Regulation also provides for a possibility to confer with applicants in order 
to find a fair solution when an application relates to a very long document or concerns a 
very large number of documents. Article 6(3) provides that in the event of an application 
relating to a very long document or to very large number of documents, the institution 
concerned  may  confer  with  the  applicant  informally,  with  a  view  to  finding  a  fair 
solution. 
In accordance with the case law of the EU Courts, such a solution can only concern the 
content  or  the  number  of  documents  applied  for,  not  the  deadline  for  replying.1  This 
                                                 
1  Judgment  of  the  Court  of  Justice  of  2  October  2014  in  case  C-127/13,  Guido Strack v Commission
paragraphs 26-28. 
 
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111 
Office: MO 59 - 5/68 - Tel. direct line +32 229-50857 

 
means  that  the  scope  of  the  request  must  be  reduced  in  a  way  that  would  enable  its 
treatment within the extended deadline of 15 + 15 working days. 
Based on the above-mentioned provision, we would kindly ask you to specify the objective 
of  your  request  and  your  specific  interest  in  the  documents  requested2,  and  whether  you 
could  narrow  down  the  scope  of  your  request  (i.e.  the  subject  matter(s)  and/or  timeframe 
covered), to reduce it to a more manageable amount of documents.  
In order to help you to narrow down your request, please note that the following categories 
of documents have been identified as falling under the scope of your request: 
1.  Around  300  bilateral  meetings  between  January  2012  and  February  2019.  We  are 
currently  assessing  if  and  which  type  of  documents  the  European  Commission  
holds, relating to those meetings;  
2.  35 seminars and high-level meetings between January 2012 and February 2019.  
As for point 2, please find below the links to the web pages containing, respectively: 
-  information  and  documents  (including  agenda,  list  of  participants,  press  release, 
speeches, presentations) related to seminars and high-level meetings from November 
2014 
to 
February 
2019 
https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/item-
detail.cfm?item_id=50189 
-  information  and  documents  (including  agenda,  list  of  participants,  press  release, 
speeches, presentations) related to  seminars and high-level meetings from January 
2012 
to 
June 
2014 
http://ec.europa.eu/archives/bepa/activities/outreach-
team/dialogue/index_en.htm 
As for the above, please let us know whether you would need further documents, apart from 
those published on the web pages. 
According to our first estimates, the handling of your request would take 45 working days3, 
broken down as follows: 
-  identification of the documents falling under your request: 10 working days; 
-  retrieval and establishment of a complete list of the documents identified: 5 working 
days; 
-  scanning of the documents: 5 working days; 
-  assessment of the content of the documents in light of the exceptions of Article 4 of 
Regulation 1049/2001: 5 working days:  
-  drafting of the reply: 5 working days; 
                                                 
2 Ibid, paragraph 28; Judgment of the General Court (then 'Court of First Instance') of 22 May 2012 in case 
T-344/08, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg v Commission, paragraph 105. 
3 Taking into account other applications for access to documents and other tasks that the staff concerned 
are likely to have to deal with during the same period.   



 
-  redaction  of  those  parts  of  the  documents  to  which  one  or  several  exceptions 
apply(ies): 5 working days; 
-  internal approval of the draft decision on your request: 5working days; 
-  preparation  of  the  reply  and  the  documents  for  dispatch  (scanning  of  the  redacted 
versions, administrative treatment,…): 5 working days. 
It  follows  that,  according  to  our  first  estimates,  documents  from  meetings  held  from 
December 2015 to February 2019 could possibly be dealt with within the extended deadline 
of 30 working days counting from the date of registration of your application on 08/02/2019. 
In order to enable us to respect the time limits of Regulation 1049/2001, we would ask you 
for a swift reply to our invitation to propose a fair solution, within five working days at the 
latest: 
  by email to: xxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx 
If you have any questions concerning the invitation, you can contact us: 
  by email at: xxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx 
  by telephone at: (+32) (0) 229 96960  
In the absence of a reply within five working days, we will unilaterally restrict the scope of 
your  application  to  those  parts  that  can  be  dealt  with  within  the  extended  deadline  of  30 
working days, counting from the registration of your application on 8/02/2019. 
Thank you in advance for your understanding.  
 
 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Barbara Nolan 
 
 
 
 
 

Electronically signed on 27/02/2019 15:06 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563