Ref. Ares(2021)4255602 - 30/06/2021
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
SECRETARIAT-GENERAL
Directorate D - Twin Transition, Economic & Social Affairs
The Director
Brussels
SG.D
Ms Belen Balanya
Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d’Édimbourg 26
B-1050 Ixelles
Belgium
e-mail:
request-9442-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Consultation pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents – GESTDEM 2021/3014
Dear Balanya,
We refer to your e-mail of 06 May 2021 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on 07 May 2021 under the above mentioned reference number. As
communicated on 1 June 2021, the initial time limit of 15 working days for handling
your application was extended by 15 working days, thus until 23 June 2021.
You requested access to the following documents
1. All correspondence (including emails) between 1 January 2021 and 6 May
2021 between President von der Leyen, EVP Dombrovskis, EVP Timmermans,
Commissioner Simson, Commissioner Breton, and/or their cabinets and/or
officials from DG ENER, DG CLIMA, DG GROW, DG TRADE and
Secretariat General on one hand and stakeholders on the other, where EU
taxonomy for sustainable activities was addressed.
2. List of meetings, videocalls, or calls between 1st December 2020 and 6th May
2021 between officials and/or representatives of the European Commission and
stakeholders where the issue of EU taxonomy for sustainable activities was
addressed.
3. Minutes of the meetings, videocalls, or calls mentioned above
Please note that due to the wide scope of your request, covering also areas falling under
the responsibility of other Directorates-General, parts of your request have been
attributed to other Directorates-General. You will receive the replies from the other
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
respective Directorates-General in due course. This reply relates only to the exchanges
and meetings between the cabinet of the President and the Secretariat-General on the one
hand, and stakeholders on the other hand, and includes the documents specified in the
annex of this letter falling within the scope of your request. Some of these documents
also relate to your request GESTDEM 2021/3012.
In addition, you will also find
attached to this letter a copy of the documents which can
be disclosed, taking into account the observations below.
Please note that since some documents originate from third parties, the originators of the
documents have been consulted.
Following an examination of document with reference Ares(2021)2703904 under the
provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents and
taking into account the opinion of the third parties, I regret to inform you that disclosure is
prevented by exceptions to the right of access laid down in forth indent of Article 4(1)(a),
and first subparagraph Article 4(3) of this Regulation.
In particular, some of the authors of the document have objected to disclosure of the
document that they sent to the Commission on the grounds that the disclosure of the
document would undermine the protection of the public interest as regards the financial,
monetary or economic policy of the Union or of a Member State; and that the disclosure of
the document would seriously undermine the institutions’ decision-making process, as the
document relates to a matter where a decision has not been taken.
Moreover, having examined the document with reference Ares(2021)606806, we have
come to the conclusion that the document may be partially disclosed. Some parts of that
document have been blanked out as their disclosure is prevented by the exception to the
right of access laid down in first indent of Article 4(2) of this Regulation. The author of the
document has objected to the disclosure of the document that they sent to the Commission
on the grounds that it contains commercially sensitive information.
Please also note the following important information:
In line with Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, in the attached
documents, personal data has been redacted. In your request, you do not
express any particular interest to have access to these personal data nor put
forward any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data transmitted
for a specific purpose in the public interest.
The documents originating from third parties are disclosed to you based on
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. However, this disclosure is without prejudice to the
rules on intellectual property, which may limit your right to reproduce or exploit the
released documents without the agreement of the originator, who may hold an
intellectual property right on them. The European Commission does not assume any
responsibility from their reuse.
The minutes were drawn up for internal use under the responsibility of the
relevant Cabinet. They solely reflect the author’s interpretation of the
interventions made and do not set out any official position of the third parties to
which they refer, which were not consulted on its content. The document does not
reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
2
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, you are entitled to make
a confirmatory application requesting the Commission to review this position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt
of this letter to the Secretary-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Transparency,
Document
Management
&
Access
to
Documents
(SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Bruxelles
or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
Elisabeth Werner
Acting Director
3
ANNEX
12/01/2021 - Ares(2021)247758 ETNO-GSMA joint letter on Delegated Regulation on a
climate change mitigation and adaptation
13/01/2021 - Ares(2021)292979 CIP Confederation of Portuguese Business on priorities
for PT Presidency
14/01/2021 - Ares(2021)304842 Alliance of European NGOs weCARE on the nuclear
energy source
25/01/2021 - Ares(2021)606806 ArcelorMittal_Sustainable Finance, EU Taxonomy
Climate Screening Criteria
29-01-2021 - Ares(2021)2636655 - 4 FR energy trade unions on importance of nuclear
energy and electricity from gas-fired power
09/02/2021 - Ares(2021)1133878 Civil Society Letter to EU Commission - Science-
Based EU Taxonomy of Sustainable Investments February 2021
16/02/2021 - Ares(2021)1283341 [Re] WeCARE Letter on Green Deal Implementation
Tools
23/02/2021 - Ares(2021) 1427481 [Re] Letter from the Co-President of The Club of
Rome sharing serious concerns regarding Taxonomy
24/02/2021 - Ares(2021)1446243 [Re] CSO statement and attachments Why keeping
fossil gas out of the EU Taxonomy is a must
24/02/2021 - Ares(2021)1446231 CSO statement and attachments Why keeping fossil
gas out of the EU Taxonomy is a must
24/02/2021 - Ares(2021)1452429 CSO statement and attachments EC Directors
04/03/2021 - Ares(2021)1622269 and Ares (2021)1622236 [Re] EURIMA_EU
Taxonomy must contribute to Green Deal
05/03/2021 - Ares(2021)1649459 DE MEPs Pieper, Caspary, Niebler, Ehler_delegated
act on the screening criteria for the EU taxonomy
10/03/2021 - Ares(2022)1745089 NGO letter on European Clean Hydrogen Alliance
(ECH2A) governance and decision making
11/03/2021 - Ares(2021)1762631 PNC-France on the nuclear energy as an energy
source in France
12/03/2021 - Ares(2021)1788135 WWF, and others_fossil gas in the EU taxonomy
22/03/2021 - Ares(2021)2024700 [Re] Letter to the directors of the NGOs WWF,
Transport & Environment, Birdlife, and NABU on EU Taxonomy
24/03/2021 - Ares(2021)2072166 -Scientists and NGOs_EU Taxonomy
4
24/03/2021 - Ares(2021)2085773 Prime Ministers CZ,HU,PL,RO,SK,SI and President
FR_role of nuclear power in the EU climate and energy policy with annexes
25/03/2021 - Ares(2021)2102752 Rabobank_green treshold of the EU Green Taxonomy
26/03/2021 - Ares(2021)2145278 ASR Nederland_EU Green Taxonomy
29/03/2021 - Ares(2021)2166028 - 46 NGOs_nuclear energy as an important part of the
EU Taxonomy
31/03/2021 - Ares(2021)2222528 MEPs Eickhot and Giegold (Greens)_updated draft
Delegated Act Taxonomy Regulation
31/03/2021 - Ares(2021)2235719 WWF Letter to the Commission on the EU Taxonomy
and Sustainable Finance
06/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2352130 Greenpeace, CAN, etc_exclusion of nuclear energy
from EU Taxonomy delegated acts
06/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2351993 Stora Enso_Taxonomy delegated act
09/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2438433 - 68 civil society organisations_EU Taxonomy of
Sustainable Investments
12/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2474084 MEP Pietikainen_phone call on EU Taxonomy
13/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2507383 Minutes of the meeting DK Permanent Representation
14/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2522609 Re] to Hill+Knowlton Strategies_EU Taxonomy
14/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2527705 IAOGP_phone call request on EU Taxonomy
14/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2522321 Avril Group Taxonomy
14/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2532067 Hydrogen Europe sharing final version of the
Hydrogen Act
15/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2562270 Institutional Investors Group_draft delegated
regulation und the Taxonomy
15/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2552480 Paris Europlace_nuclear power in the EU climate
policy and inclusion in the EU Taxonomy
15/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2559127 Prime Ministers FI,SE_EU Taxonomy_Ref to a
proposal from 12 MS on forestry
16/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2584911 Minister letter AT, BE, DE, DK, ES, LU,
IE_Taxonomy Delegated Act
16/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2574758 WeCare_nuclear energy in EU Taxonomy
16/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2576188 Waterborne sector on its crucial role in Europe's
recovery, autonomy and climate policies
16/04/2021 Ares(2021)2585712 COGEN_EU Taxonomy
5
16/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2578883 - 5MEPs_Delegated Act on the EU Taxonomy
16/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2570922 France Industrie_EU taxonomy
16/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2583893 PNC France on the reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions
16/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2571940 [Re] IAOGP - Request for a phone call on taxonomy
16/04/2021 - Ares(2021)1917709 REPLY CSO statement
19/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2615317 [Re] WWF follow-up to mtg on deforestation, climate
and taxonomy
19/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2613559 FW_UTP's position on the European Strategy on
intelligent and sustainable Mobility
19/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2615287 WWF follow-up to mtg on deforestation, climate and
taxonomy
20/04/2021 - Ares(2021)741395 - 13 Trade unions on the importance of nuclear energy
in a carbon-free Europe by 2050
22/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2703904 Governments of BG, CZ, HR, CY, EL, HU, LT, MT,
PL, RO, SK_delegated act on Taxonomy
22/04/2021 - Ares(2021)2789166 NO ambassador on Norwegian perspectives and
contributions to European Green Deal
28/04/2021 - Ares (2021)2844830 Letter Club of Rome, Platform on Sustainable
Finance_opinion on EU Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act
17/05/2021 - ARES(2021) 3253003 E-mail exchange in organising the video meeting
31/05/2021 - Ares(2021)3577352 Short minutes of a meeting with Compagnie de
SAINT-GOBAIN on 16032021 - Draft Delegated Act, EU Taxonomy
31/05/2021 - Ares(2021)3577491 Short minutes of a meeting with Lantbrukarnas
Riksförbund (LRF) on 16032021 - Draft Delegated Act, EU Taxonomy
31/05/2021 - Ares (2021)3577537 Short minutes of a meeting with Wirtschaftskammer
Österreich (WKÖ) on 09032021
6
Electronically signed on 24/06/2021 13:47 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482