Midcat
To DG Clima, Dg Grow, DG Energy, Secretariat General,
From: Belen Balanya, Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels.
24 March 2022 RE: Access to Documents related to MidCat
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:
1- all correspondence (including email, SMS, private twitter and WhatsApp) since 1st January 2022 between Commissioner Simson, and/or her cabinet and/or officials from DG Energy with stakeholders in which MidCat was discussed.
2 - list of meetings since since 1st January 2022 between between Commissioner Simson, and/or her cabinet and/or officials from DG Energy with stakeholders in which MidCat was discussed.
3 - minutes of the meetings mentioned above
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.
To the extent possible, we prefer the 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.
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.
Belen Balanya
Corporate Europe Observatory
Dear Madam,
Thank you for your e-mail of 24/03/2022. We hereby acknowledge receipt of
your application for access to documents, which was registered on
25/03/2022 under reference number GESTDEM 2022/1748.
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 20/04/2022. 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 AsktheEU.org 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 (cr)
SG.C.1
Transparency
Dear Ms Balanya,
We refer to your e-mail of 24 March 2022, in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on the 25 of March under the above
mentioned reference number. Your application is currently being handled.
However, we will not be in a position to complete the handling of your
application within the time limit of 15 working days, which expired on 20
April 2022.
An extended time limit is needed as the application concerns documents
held by different Services, which must be 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 12 May 2022.
We apologize for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours faithfully,
[1]cid:image001.png@01D03ECB.9741CEE0
European Commission
DG Energy
DG ENERGY – Access to documents team
Email: [2][email address]
References
Visible links
2. mailto:[email address]
Dear Energy,
Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.
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 I requested on 24 March 2022, registered as GESTDEM 2022/1748.
The last response by DG Energy dated 21 April set the new deadline for May 12, already expired.
I accordingly urge you to disclose the requested information in the shortest time possible.
Kind regards,
Belén Balanyá
Dear Madam,
Thank you for your email dated 17/05/2022 by which you request, pursuant
to Regulation No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents, a review of the position taken by DG
ENER in reply to your initial application GESTDEM 2022/1748.
We hereby acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory application for access
to documents which was registered on 18/05/2022 (Ares(2022)3751871).
Your application will be handled within 15 working days (13/06/2022). In
case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due
course.
Please be informed that the answer to your confirmatory application is a
formal Commission decision that will be notified to you by express
delivery. Thank you for providing your contact phone number, so that the
external delivery service can contact you in case of absence.
Please note that the Commission will not use your phone number for any
other purpose than for informing the delivery service, and that it will
delete it immediately thereafter.
Yours faithfully,
Access to documents team (cr)
SG.C.1
Transparency
Dear SG ACCES DOCUMENTS,
If needed you could use this number 32 (0)2 893 0930 but please do send the response to my confirmatory application also here
Yours,
Belen Balanya
Dear applicant,
Please find attached the reply to your request, registered under reference
GestDem 2022/1748
According to standard operational procedure, the reply is usually also
sent to you by registered post. Please note, however, that due to the
extraordinary health and security measures currently in force during to
the COVID-19 epidemics, which include the requirement for all Commission
non-critical staff to telework, we are unfortunately not in a position to
follow this procedure until further notice.
We would therefore appreciate if you could confirm receipt of the present
e-mail by replying to [1][email address]
Best regards,
ENER C4 ACCES DOCUMENTS
References
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1. mailto:[email address]