French government ban on short-distance domestic flights

Olivier Hoedeman a fait une demande de Accès à l'information à Marché intérieur, Industrie, Entrepreneuriat et PME

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Olivier Hoedeman

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW),

On behalf of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), I would like to - under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties as developed in Regulation 1049/2001 - request access to the following documents:
- all reports (and other notes) from meetings between the European Commission and representatives of the Union des Aéroports Français (UAF) and/or the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) since July 1st 2021.
- all correspondence (including emails and WhatsApp messages) between the European Commission and representatives of the Union des Aéroports Français (UAF) and/or the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) since July 1st 2021.
- a list of all the above-mentioned documents (including dates, names of participants/senders/recipients and their affiliation, subject of meeting/correspondence)

The background for this request is as follows: last year the French airports' lobby group UAF (jointly with the European branch of the Airports Council International, ACI Europe) lodged a complaint to the European Commission against the French government’s intended ban on domestic flights for which an alternative by train of less than 2 hours and 30 minutes exists. According to newspaper reporting, the airport lobby groups argued that the ban violates ‘one of the founding principles of Europe, that is to say the freedom to provide services’. In December 2021 the European Commission opened an investigation into the French government’s plans. This investigation appears to be still ongoing.

There is a clear public interest in the disclosure of these documents. The transparency rules as set out in the Lisbon Treaty oblige the EU institutions to work as openly and as closely as possible to citizens. There is moreover clearly a lot at stake for EU citizens in this case, as it concerns the right of public authorities to introduce the strong and ambitious policy measures needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Yours faithfully,

Olivier Hoedeman
on behalf of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Rue d'Edimbourg 26
1050 Brussels

GROW-ACCES-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu, Marché intérieur, Industrie, Entrepreneuriat et PME

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail of 29 June 2022. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 01 July 2022 under reference number GESTDEM 2022/3775.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application will be handled within 15 working days. The time limit will expire on 25 July 2022. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.

You have lodged your application via a private third-party website, which has no link with any institution of the European Union. Therefore, the European Commission cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to the use of this system.

Please note that the private third party running the website is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data via that website, and not the Commission. For further information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy.

We understand that the third party running the AsktheEU.org website usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have communicated to the Commission (e.g. your private postal address).

Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that the Commission will send to the email address of the applicants generated by the AsktheEU.org website.
If you do not wish that your correspondence with the Commission is published on a private third-party website such as AsktheEU.org, you can provide us with an alternative, private e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, the Commission will send all future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private address, and it will use only that private address to reply to your request. You should still remain responsible to inform the private third-party website about this change of how you wish to communicate with, and receive a reply from, the Commission.

For information on how we process your personal data visit our page Privacy statement – access to documents.

Yours faithfully,

Access to Documents Team

-----Original Message-----
From: Olivier Hoedeman <[FOI #11503 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2022 3:21 PM
To: GROW ACCES DOCUMENTS <[DG GROW request email]>
Subject: access to documents request - French government ban on short-distance domestic flights

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW),

On behalf of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), I would like to - under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties as developed in Regulation 1049/2001 - request access to the following documents:
- all reports (and other notes) from meetings between the European Commission and representatives of the Union des Aéroports Français (UAF) and/or the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) since July 1st 2021.
- all correspondence (including emails and WhatsApp messages) between the European Commission and representatives of the Union des Aéroports Français (UAF) and/or the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) since July 1st 2021.
- a list of all the above-mentioned documents (including dates, names of participants/senders/recipients and their affiliation, subject of meeting/correspondence)

The background for this request is as follows: last year the French airports' lobby group UAF (jointly with the European branch of the Airports Council International, ACI Europe) lodged a complaint to the European Commission against the French government’s intended ban on domestic flights for which an alternative by train of less than 2 hours and 30 minutes exists. According to newspaper reporting, the airport lobby groups argued that the ban violates ‘one of the founding principles of Europe, that is to say the freedom to provide services’. In December 2021 the European Commission opened an investigation into the French government’s plans. This investigation appears to be still ongoing.

There is a clear public interest in the disclosure of these documents. The transparency rules as set out in the Lisbon Treaty oblige the EU institutions to work as openly and as closely as possible to citizens. There is moreover clearly a lot at stake for EU citizens in this case, as it concerns the right of public authorities to introduce the strong and ambitious policy measures needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Yours faithfully,

Olivier Hoedeman
on behalf of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) Rue d'Edimbourg 26
1050 Brussels

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GROW-ACCES-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu, Marché intérieur, Industrie, Entrepreneuriat et PME

1 Attachment

Dear Sir,

 

We refer to your request for access to documents, registered on 01/07/2022
under the above mentioned reference number.

Your application is currently being handled. However, we are not in a
position to complete the handling of your application within the time
limit of 15 working days, which expired on 25/07/2022.

An extended time limit is needed as the application concerns different
Services which are consulted.

 

Therefore, we have to extend the time limit with 15 working days in
accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 16/08/2022.

 

We apologize for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

DG GROW – Access to documents team

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG  GROW/B1 – Planning and Briefings

 

GROW-ACCES-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu, Marché intérieur, Industrie, Entrepreneuriat et PME

2 Attachments

Dear Sir,

Please find enclosed the reply to your request for access to documents
registered under the above-mentioned reference number.

We would appreciate it if you could confirm the receipt of this e-mail by
replying to [1][DG GROW request email]

Best regards,

DG GROW – Access to documents team

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG  GROW/B1 – Planning and Briefings

 

 

References

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1. mailto:[DG GROW request email]