Safeguard Mechanism: United Kingdom and free movement

La demande a été rejetée par Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne.

Niccolo Milanese

Dear Secretariat General,

With reference to Regulation (EC) no.1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, I would like to formally request access to documents pertaining to this statement:

Paragraph 2 of Annex VI of the European Council conclusions of 18-19 February, stated that:

"the European Commission considers that the kind of information provided to it by the United Kingdom, in particular as it has not made full use of the transitional periods on free movement of workers which were provided for in recent Accession Acts, shows the type of exceptional situation that the proposed safeguard mechanism is intended to cover exists in the United Kingdom today. Accordingly, the United Kingdom would be justified in triggering the mechanism in the full expectation of obtaining approval"

In particular, I request access to the following documents:

• Documents containing information supplied by the United Kingdom as evidence of an exceptional situation;

• The Commission’s own analysis based on labour market statistics and studies by third parties.

• The preparatory documents leading the Commission to reach the conclusion that “the type of exceptional situation that the safeguard mechanism is intended to cover exists in the United Kingdom today”

• Any notes and evidence to back up the declaration supplied to the representatives of Member States in the European Council, their reactions and extracts from any minutes of meetings where the safeguard mechanism was discussed.

In light of the upcoming referendum in the UK on European Union membership on the 23rd of June and the need of citizens to fully understand the issues surrounding continued UK membership of the European Union, I submit there is a clear, overriding public interest in disclosure and that the initial 15 working day disclosure period, as per Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) no.1049/2001, should be applied.

Thank you in advance.

Yours faithfully,
Niccolo Milanese

Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

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Dear Mr Milanese,

 

Thank you for your request for access to documents.

Unfortunately you have not indicated your postal address that is required
for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural
requirements. Please send us your full postal address at your earliest
convenience. Pending your reply, we reserve the right to refuse the
registration of your request.

You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your
request:

[1]http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...

 

Best regards,

 

ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
[2]cid:image001.gif@01D18A86.5C3DA690
European Commission
Secretariat General

Unit B4 - Transparency

 

 

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Niccolo Milanese

Dear Secretariat General,

Thank you for your reply.
Here is the postal address

European Alternatives, Suite 501, the Nexus Building, Broadway, Letchworth Garden City, SG69BL

Yours faithfully,

Niccolo Milanese

Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

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Dear Mr Milanese,

 

Thank you for your e-mail dated 02/05/2016.  We hereby acknowledge receipt
of your application for access to documents, which was registered on
02/05/2016 under reference number GestDem  2016/2404

 

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
27/05/2016. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.

 

You have lodged your application via the AsktheEU.org website. Please note
that this is a private 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.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
[1]cid:image001.gif@01D1A22F.E61E19B0
European Commission
Secretariat General

Unit B4 - Transparency

 

 

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Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

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Good morning Mr. Milanese,
 
On behalf of Jonathan Faull, Director General UKTF, please find attached a
note for your attention, on the above subject.
 
Regards
 
Marie
 
 
Marie Phillips
Office of the Director General
Task Force for Strategic Issues related to the UK Referendum
European Commission
BERL 2/319
B-1049 Brussels
Tel:  + 32 2 2958658

[1][email address]

The views expressed above are the writer's alone and may not in any
circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European
Commission.  If you have received this message in error, please contact
the sender by e-mail or telephone + 32 2 2990725 and then delete this
message.  Thank you.
 
 
 

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Niccolo Milanese

Confirmatory Request
Access to information request under regulation EC (NO) 1049/2001 Gestdem 2016/2404

Dear Jonathan Faull

In reference to your letter dated 27 May 2016 concerning my access to information request regarding the European Council conclusions of 18-19 February 2016, you argue that there is no ‘overriding public interest’ in disclosure of the documents concerning the Commission’s assertion that

"the type of exceptional situation that the safeguard mechanism is intended to cover exists in the United Kingdom today" (Annex VI)

I must disagree with this assertion. An essential part of the public debate in the United Kingdom in advance of the referendum is about the benefits and costs of the free movement of people. This issue is raised consistently in public debates and in the political speeches of both the remain and leave campaigns. The Commission has asserted that the UK government has provided evidence that in the UK there is an ‘exceptional situation’ due to the influx of EU workers, thereby asserting that this evidence confirms that

"such an exceptional situation exists on a scale that affects essential aspects of its social security system, including the primary purpose of its in-work benefits system, or which leads to difficulties which are serious and liable to persist in its employment market or are putting an excessive pressure on the proper functioning of its public service" (paragraph 2b of Section D)

In so doing the European Commission has, using its authority as guardian of the treaties and as representative of the interest of the European Union as a whole, taken a position which frames in important ways the public discussion and must influence the public choice at the referendum and political choice afterwards. The assertion that there is an exceptional pressure on UK public services caused by EU migration will have implications after the referendum in the case both of a remain or a leave vote in the context of discussions on the relationship between the UK and the rest of the EU, and the fate of EU workers currently in the UK. Therefore the overwhelming public interest in seeing and evaluating this evidence will remain after the 23rd June.

It is inconceivable to me that the evidence provided for the Commission to establish such a conclusion is out of public view, and unavailable to be discussed and contested. The Commission’s assertion is by no means a consensual view amongst scientific and evidence based studies of the situation.(Note 1) Furthermore the Commission’s assertion goes against recent assertions of the European Commission itself. (Note 2) The UK government itself, in its ‘Review of the Balance of Competences between the United Kingdom and the European Union’ acknowledges when it comes to free movement of persons that ‘there is considerable differences in opinion on this topic’. (Note 3) Therefore there can be no argument that the assertion of the Commission is uncontentious or should be taken for granted.

In view of these reasons, in view of the public interest in the UK in this issue, in view of the Europe-wide implications of the assertion that there is an ‘exceptional situation’ in the UK and the potential for it to act as a precedent for other member states, I call on the European Commission to reconsider its refusal of my request for the documentation leading it to reach such a conclusion. What is more, given that the evidence provided by the UK government must surely include labour market statistics already in the public domain, the refusal of even partial release of the evidence provided by the UK government seems particularly difficult to justify.

Yours sincerely

Niccolo Milanese

Notes:
1. See for example two studies from UCL London https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles..., and from the OECD http://www.oecd.org/els/mig/press-note-U...

2. For example, in 2006 the Commission asserted regarding worker mobility from EU15 countries said « Countries that have not applied restrictions after May 2004 (UK, Ireland and Sweden) have experienced high economic growth, a drop of unemployment and a rise of employment. » http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catI...

In 2014 the DG Employment social Affairs and Inclusion stated that « According to a study just published by the European Commission in most EU countries, EU citizens from other Member States use welfare benefits no more intensively than the host country's nationals. Mobile EU citizens are less likely to receive disability and unemployment benefits in most countries studied. » http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?lang...

3. ‘Review of the Balance of Competences between the United Kingdom and the European Union. Single Market : Free movement of persons’, HM Government Summer 2014 Page 6 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy...

Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

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Dear Mr Milanese,
 
Thank you for your email sent to Mrs Phillips on 15/06/2016, 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 the UK Task Force (UKTF) in reply to your initial
application GESTDEM 2016/2404.
 
We hereby acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory application for access
to documents which was registered on 29/06/2016 (Ares(2016)3064685).
 
Your application will be handled within 15 working days (20/07/2016).   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.  We kindly offer you the possibility to provide us a contact
phone number (by email to [email address]), 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,
 
BLURIOT-PUEBLA Madeleine
Cellule 'Accès aux documents'
 
European Commission
SG/B/4 - Transparence

BERL 05/315
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 296 09 97
[1][email address]

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Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

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Dear Mr Milanese,

 

Please find attached a note for your attention regarding your confirmatory
application GestDem 2016/2404.

 

Best regards,

 

 

 

ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS (NL)

[1]cid:image002.jpg@01CFC082.A6D14DD0
European Commission
Secretariat General
B4 – Transparency

 

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Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

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Dear Mr Milanese,

 

Please find attached a note for your attention regarding your confirmatory
application GestDem 2016/2404.

 

Best regards,

Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315

 

Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

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Dear Mr Milanese,

 

Please find attached an advance information copy of the confirmatory
decision taken on your requests for access to documents registered under
reference GESTDEM 2016/2404, adopted on 13/12/2016 in the above-mentioned
case.

 

Please note that the Secretariat General of the European Commission will
proceed with the formal notification of the decision in the coming days.

 

This advance copy is solely sent for your information and is not the
formal notification of the confirmatory decision.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315

[1]cid:image002.gif@01D22875.3B507920

 

 

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