To: Secretariat General of the European Commission
From: Belen Balanya, Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels
25 October 2023 RE: Confirmatory application, request to DG Clima on minutes meetings Frans Timmermans and Cabinet

Dear sirs,

I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request on minutes of meetings of Frans Timmermans and his Cabinet, submitted on 15 September 2023.

In conformity with Article 7(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (hereafter “the Regulation”), I hereby submits a confirmatory application regarding the Commission's implied refusal to provide the information requested.

I accordingly urge you to disclose the requested information in the shortest time possible.

I submitted the access to documents request to DG Clima (through the Ask the EU site), you can see it here: https://www.asktheeu.org/r/632be458-e9be... and pasted below

Kind regards,
Belén Balanyá

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Original request:

Dear sirs,

Referring to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to EU documents and to the 'Aarhus Regulation', I would herewith like to ask for access to the following:

Any records, minutes or notes of the following meetings/discussions

- On 23/2/2023 between Commissioner Timmermans and Shell on Clean energy investments of Shell, Brussels.
- On 2/2/2023 between Commissioner Timmermans and Energias de Portugal, RWE, Breakthrough Energy Catalyst Foundation, EPIA, WindEurope, Siemens Gamesa Renewable, First Ammonia, Nel Hydrogen, ACCIONA and Iberdrola on the Hydrogen bank proposal and the Green Deal Industrial Plan, Brussels.
- On 13/07/2023 between Diederik Samsom, Anthony Agotha and Shell on EU hydrogen plans, Brussels.
- On 11/07/2023 between Aleksandra Tomczak and Snam, on South H2 Corridor, REPower EU priority corridors for the import of green hydrogen from north Africa, videoconference.
- On 26/06/2023 between Aleksandra Tomczak and Nel Hydrogen on future expansion plans for electrolyser manufacturing in Europe and in the United States. European Hydrogen Bank. Brussels.
- On 26/04/2023 between Aleksandra Tomczak and the European Round Table for Industry (ERT) on future EU hydrogen market, Brussels.
- On 25/04/2023 between Diederik Samsom and ABB, Eurogas, Terna Energy, Air Products, Equinor, Eni, IVECO, Tree Energy Solutions, ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical, IOGP Europe, Hydrogen Europe, European Biogas Association, Gas Infrastructure Europe and Vopak, on Energy, environmental and digital challenges of our time, Brussels.
- On 24/04/2023 between Aleksandra Tomczak and Lukas Visek, and Grupa Azoty, Yara, and Fertilizers Europe, on the Future EU hydrogen market and the EU hydrogen bank, Brussels.
- On 24/04/2023 between Aleksandra Tomczak and Yara Belgium on Future EU hydrogen market and the EU hydrogen bank, Brussels
- On 21/04/2023 between Aleksandra Tomczak and Ørsted, RWE, First Ammonia and Nel Hydrogen on the Hydrogen Bank, Brussels.
- On 30/03/2023 between Anthony Agotha, Antoine Colombani, Aleksandra Tomczak and Shell, on International gas markets, hydrogen and CCS.
- On 30/01/2023 between Aleksandra Aleksandra Tomczak and Baker McKenzie on Delegated Acts under the Renewable Energy Directive, videocall.
- On 09/12/2022 between Aleksandra Aleksandra Tomczak and Hydrogen Council, on the latest publications of the Hydrogen Council, videocall.
- On 01/12/2022 between Aleksandra Tomczak, Diederik Samsom and Shell on energy transition, Brussels.

To the extent possible, our preference is to receive documents in electronic format. Documents that cannot be sent in electronic format should be sent to Corporate Europe Observatory, Rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels – to the attention of Belén Balanyá. Should you transmit documents to us by regular post, we kindly ask you to announce us in advance in this regard.

I would like to make clear I prefer you produce the documents on a rolling basis.
At no point should the Commission’s search for—or deliberations concerning—certain documents delay the production of others that the Commission has already retrieved and elected to produce.

Should my request be denied wholly or partially, please explain the denial or all deletions referring to specific exemptions in the regulation. Also I expect the partial release of documents, in case of partial exemption according to article 4.6.

I reserve the right to appeal.

Please confirm having received this application. I look forward to your reply within 15 business days, according to the regulation.

Thank you for your assistance

Belén Balanyá