Authorisation request - Gorka Navea

Bram Vranken a fait une demande de Accès à l'information à Ressources humaines et sécurité

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La demande a été rejetée par Ressources humaines et sécurité.

Dear Human Resources and Security,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which relate to any article 16, article 12B and article 40 (staff regulations) applications made by Gorka Navea, former employee at DG Competition.

In particular, I request a note of all Mr. Navea job titles at DG Comp including dates held; copies of any application(s) that he has made under article 12b, 16 and 40 to undertake a new professional activity; and all documents (correspondence, emails, meeting notes etc) related to the authorisation of the new role or roles.

Yours faithfully,

Bram Vranken
On behalf of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)

Rue d'Edimbourgh 26
1050 Brussels

HR-ACCESS-TO-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 11/10/2022 and registered on 12/10/2022 under the case number
2022/5795.

We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 04/11/2022. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.

To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.

Yours faithfully,

Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security - Access to Documents
European Commission

References

Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...

HR-ACCESS-TO-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

1 Attachment

Hello,

Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2022/5795.

Kind regards,

HR

To whom it may concern,

I would herewith like to make a confirmatory application following the refusal to disclose documents (case number 2022/5795).

The request asks for documents related to article 16, article 12B and article 40 (staff regulations) applications made by Gorka Navea, a former employee at DG Competition.

In its response the Secretariat-General states that “Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation does not allow the transmission of these personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data transmitted to you for a specific purpose in the public interest and where there is no reason to assume that the legitimate interests of the data subject might be prejudiced.”

1) Regarding the public interest

There is a clear public interest in disclosing these documents. According to media reports and the website of Mr. Navea’s new employer, Mr. Navea has passed multiple times through what is known as the revolving door. From 2008-2018, Mr. Navea worked at the European Commission, among others as the deputy head of unit at the Cartels Directorate of DG Competition and as a member of cabinet of the former European Commission Vice-President Joaquin Almunia on merger and antitrust cases. In 2018 he joined the antitrust group at the law firm Wilson Sonsini. According to media reports, he joined the Commission again in 2022, only to move to the private sector as a partner in the Competition – Antitrust team at the law firm Squire Patton Boggs in October, where he will work on both EU as Spanish competition cases.

For the media reports referenced above, see: https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/polit...
https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/en/new...

There is a clear risk of a conflict of interest in Mr. Navea joining the private sector so shortly after having worked at the European Commission. Especially as he might advise companies in his new role on anti-trust cases the European Commission is currently working on.

The public interest in disclosing these documents is further emphasized by recent statements made by several institutions and agencies which have recently expressed concerns about former employees of the European Commission joining the private sector:
• The European Ombudsman stated in May 2022 after a year-long investigation that “the movement of regulators into sectors they formerly regulated has become a problematic issue in Brussels, yet this is not fully reflected in how the EU administration deals with the matter.” According to the Ombudsman the failure to control this practice “may erode public confidence in the integrity and expertise of the EU institutions”. The Ombudsman also stressed the importance of public scrutiny of revolving door cases.
• The European Parliament has regularly expressed concerns about the risk of conflicts of interests arising from revolving doors and the risk of confidential information being disclosed by former employees of the Commission https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/doc...
• The “Uber Files”, extensively covered by the media, have again highlighted how revolving doors can damage the public trust in the European institutions.

As the European Ombudsman has highlighted, monitoring and public scrutiny play an important role in guaranteeing transparency, accountability and a check on possible conflict of interests. Moreover, the European Commission has as well stressed the importance of external scrutiny to effectively monitor article 16 decision in its response to the EU Ombudsman investigation: "With regard to monitoring the Article 16 decisions, in addition to internal means of control, the Commission relies also on external scrutiny by other institutions, the public, and third parties." https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/doc/i...

Disclosure of the requested documents is thus in the public interest as it guarantees external scrutiny. As Mr. Navea seems to have repeatedly joined the private sector after having worked with the European Commission on the same topics, public scrutiny is of specific importance.

2) Secondly, case law shows that the right to privacy does not necessarily exclude the disclosure of documents:
a. The Court of First Instance decided in The Bavarian Lager Co. Ltd v Commission of the European Communities [2007] case that “even if one cannot, a priori, exclude the possibility that the concept of private life may cover certain aspects of the professional activity of an individual, that does not mean that any professional activity is wholly and necessarily covered by protection of the right to respect for private life”. Case T-194/04, para 123
b. The ECtHR decided in the case of Magyar Helsinki Bizottság v Hungary that although the requested information constituted the personal data of the public defenders, it "related predominantly to the conduct of professional activities in the context of public proceedings". Therefore, the "public defenders’ professional activities cannot be considered to be a private matter". no 18030/11 (ECtHR, 8 November 2016), para 194.
c. Lastly, according to Case T-166/05 Borax Europe v Commission [2009] ECR II-28, para. 8. “the risk of a protected interest being undermined must be reasonable foreseeable and not purely hypothetical”. In line with principles of good administration, the Commission must give reasons for why disclosure would “actually and specifically” undermine the integrity and privacy of the person in question.

Yours faithfully,

Bram Vranken

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2022/5795, sent on 09/11/2022 and registered on 09/11/2022.

We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 30/11/2022. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.

Yours faithfully,

Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Hello,

We are writing concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2022/5795 registered on 09/11/2022.

We are currently working on your confirmatory request. However, we have
not yet been able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full
analysis of your request. We will not be able to send you the reply within
the prescribed time limit expiring on 30/11/2022.

This delay is caused by the ongoing consultations between Commission
services concerned by the subject matter of your request.

Therefore, in line with Article 8(2) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 we
need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new time
limit expires on 21/12/2022.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards,

ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM

References

Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Hello,

We are writing to you concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2022/5795, registered on 09/11/2022.

On 30/11/2022, we extended the time-limit for replying to your
confirmatory request to 21/12/2022.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to send you the reply within this
extended time limit.

This delay is caused by the ongoing internal consultations between
Commission services concerned by the subject matter of your request.

However, we assure you that we are doing our best to send a reply to your
confirmatory request as soon as possible.

We regret this additional delay and sincerely apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards,

SG ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM

Dear Human Resources and Security,

On 3/11 I filed a confirmatory request with regard to the Freedom of Information request case 2022/5795. On 21/12 you send a notification that you would not be able to send me a reply within the extended time limit.

As we are now almost four weeks later, can you please give me an update on the status of my confirmatory request?

Yours faithfully,

Bram Vranken

Dear Human Resources and Security,

The answer to my request for information (case 2022/5795) is long overdue. I filed a confirmatory application on 3/11 and send you a reminder on 16/01.

Article 8 of Regulation 1049/2001 clearly states that a confirmatory application shall be handled within 15 working days. We are long past those 15 working days.

If no response is forthcoming, I will have to take further steps.

Yours faithfully,

Bram Vranken

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

1 Attachment

Hello,

Please find attached our message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents under reference EASE 2022/5795.

With kind regards,

SG ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM

SG ACCES DOCUMENTS, Ressources humaines et sécurité

[1]Confirmatory reply-2022/5795 - STATUS OPEN- Email from ATD
requestor----FW: access to documents request - Authorisation request -
Gorka Navea - Ares(2023)1169255  (Please use this link only if you are an
Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e)
utilisateur d’Ares)

Hello,

We are writing to you in response to your e-mail of 16/02/2023 concerning
your confirmatory request for access to Commission documents for case
2022/5795, registered on 09/11/2022.

We would like to inform you that the internal consultations between the
Commission services concerned by the subject matter of your request, due
to which our delay in replying to you request occurred, has been
effectively completed and a draft confirmatory decision is now being
prepared by the Secretariat-General. As soon as it is finalised, it will
be subjected to the Legal Service’s approval and subsequently adopted by
the Secretary-General and communicated to you.

Unfortunately, we are not able to provide you with an estimated timeline
for when all the above-mentioned steps will have been completed. However,
we assure you that we are doing our utmost to reply to your confirmatory
request as soon as possible.

We regret this persisting delay and once again sincerely apologise for any
inconvenience it may cause.

Kind regards,

SG ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM

Afficher les sections citées

SG-GREFFE-CERTIFICATION@ec.europa.eu, Ressources humaines et sécurité

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Bram Vranken,

 

Please find attached the electronic version of the Commission Decision
C(2023)2089 as adopted by the European Commission on 21.3.2023.

 

The formal notification of the decision under Article 297 TFEU is being
made only in electronic form.

 

Could you please confirm receipt of the attached document by return
e-mail?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dimitra PROTOPSALTI

SG.B2 Procédures écrites, habilitation, délégation

 

European Commission
Secretariat-General

 

BERL 005/155
B-1049 Brussels, Belgium
Tél: (+32) 2 29 56750

 

SG-GREFFE-CERTIFICATION@ec.europa.eu, Ressources humaines et sécurité

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Bram Vranken,

 

Unless we are mistaken, and while checking our records, we have not
received your confirmation of receipt regarding the message below.

 

Could you please acknowledge the receipt of the document enclosed in the
message addressed to you, by return email?

 

Kind regards,

 

Dimitra PROTOPSALTI

SG.B2 Procédures écrites, habilitation, délégation

 

European Commission
Secretariat-General

 

BERL 005/155
B-1049 Brussels, Belgium
Tél: (+32) 2 29 56750

 

 

 

From: SG GREFFE CERTIFICATION
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2023 3:28 PM
To: '[FOI #11962 email]'
<[FOI #11962 email]>
Cc: CORINALDESI Lorenza (SG) <[email address]>
Subject: C(2023)2089 final - addressed to Mr Bram Vranken

 

Dear Mr Bram Vranken,

 

Please find attached the electronic version of the Commission Decision
C(2023)2089 as adopted by the European Commission on 21.3.2023.

 

The formal notification of the decision under Article 297 TFEU is being
made only in electronic form.

 

Could you please confirm receipt of the attached document by return
e-mail?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dimitra PROTOPSALTI

SG.B2 Procédures écrites, habilitation, délégation

 

European Commission
Secretariat-General

 

BERL 005/155
B-1049 Brussels, Belgium
Tél: (+32) 2 29 56750

 

Dear Dimitra,

I have received your response to my confirmartory application.

Yours sincerely,

Bram Vranken