SMS exchange between Chancellor Merkel and President Von der Leyen

Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne n'avait pas les informations demandées.

Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

- All text message exchanges between President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel since the former assumed office in late 2019. The existence of such exchanges has recently been reported in the press [1]. My request should also include other exchanges using text and instant messaging, such as via WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal, etc.

I would like to point out a decision by the European Ombudsman in case 1219/2020/MIG, in which the Ombudsman states that "text and instant messages are clearly covered" under the scope of Regulation 1049/2001 and other relevant rules. The decision notes that "the EU institutions should make every effort to reflect the reality of modern communications, and the increased use of text and instant messaging, in their document management rules and practices" [2].

Yours faithfully,

Alexander Fanta

[1] https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/euro...
[2] https://fragdenstaat.de/dokumente/7696-j...

Sg-Acc-Doc@ec.europa.eu, Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

Your message has been received by the Transparency Unit of the
Secretariat-General of the European Commission.
Requests for public access to documents are treated on the basis of
[1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
The Secretariat-General will reply to your request within 15 working days
upon registration of your request and will duly inform you of the
registration of the request (or of any additional information to be
provided in view of its registration and/or treatment).
 
 
L’unité «Transparence» du secrétariat général de la Commission européenne
a bien reçu votre message.
Les demandes d’accès du public aux documents sont traitées sur la base du
[2]règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001 du 30 mai 2001 relatif à l’accès du public
aux documents du Parlement européen, du Conseil et de la Commission.
Le secrétariat général répondra à votre demande dans un délai de 15 jours
ouvrables à compter de la date d’enregistrement de votre demande, et vous
informera de cet enregistrement (ou vous indiquera toute information
supplémentaire à fournir en vue de l'enregistrement et/ou du traitement de
votre demande).
 
 
Ihre Nachricht ist beim Referat „Transparenz“ des Generalsekretariats der
Europäischen Kommission eingegangen.
Anträge auf Zugang zu Dokumenten werden auf der Grundlage der
[3]Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 vom 30. Mai 2001 über den Zugang der
Öffentlichkeit zu Dokumenten des Europäischen Parlaments, des Rates und
der Kommission behandelt.
Das Generalsekretariat beantwortet Ihre Anfrage innerhalb von
15 Arbeitstagen nach deren Registrierung und wird Sie über die
Registrierung Ihres Antrags (oder die Notwendigkeit weiterer Informationen
im Hinblick auf dessen Registrierung und/oder Bearbeitung) unterrichten.
 
 

References

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

Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

I would like to clarify in advance that my postal address is netzpolitik.org, Rue de la Loi 155, 1040 Bruxelles, Belgium

Yours faithfully,

Alexander Fanta

Sg-Acc-Doc@ec.europa.eu, Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

Your message has been received by the Transparency Unit of the
Secretariat-General of the European Commission.
Requests for public access to documents are treated on the basis of
[1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
The Secretariat-General will reply to your request within 15 working days
upon registration of your request and will duly inform you of the
registration of the request (or of any additional information to be
provided in view of its registration and/or treatment).
 
 
L’unité «Transparence» du secrétariat général de la Commission européenne
a bien reçu votre message.
Les demandes d’accès du public aux documents sont traitées sur la base du
[2]règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001 du 30 mai 2001 relatif à l’accès du public
aux documents du Parlement européen, du Conseil et de la Commission.
Le secrétariat général répondra à votre demande dans un délai de 15 jours
ouvrables à compter de la date d’enregistrement de votre demande, et vous
informera de cet enregistrement (ou vous indiquera toute information
supplémentaire à fournir en vue de l'enregistrement et/ou du traitement de
votre demande).
 
 
Ihre Nachricht ist beim Referat „Transparenz“ des Generalsekretariats der
Europäischen Kommission eingegangen.
Anträge auf Zugang zu Dokumenten werden auf der Grundlage der
[3]Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 vom 30. Mai 2001 über den Zugang der
Öffentlichkeit zu Dokumenten des Europäischen Parlaments, des Rates und
der Kommission behandelt.
Das Generalsekretariat beantwortet Ihre Anfrage innerhalb von
15 Arbeitstagen nach deren Registrierung und wird Sie über die
Registrierung Ihres Antrags (oder die Notwendigkeit weiterer Informationen
im Hinblick auf dessen Registrierung und/oder Bearbeitung) unterrichten.
 
 

References

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

ve_sg.accessdoc (SG), Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

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[1]Ares(2021)34625 - RE: access to documents request - SMS exchange
between Chancellor Merkel and President Von der Leyen --- Ref. Gestdem
2021/12

Sent by ve_sg.accessdoc (SG) <[SG request email]>. All responses have
to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par ve_sg.accessdoc (SG) <[SG request email]>. Toutes les
réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail of 1 January 2021. We hereby acknowledge receipt
of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 4
January 2021 under reference number GESTDEM 2021/12.

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 January 2021. 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

Afficher les sections citées

ve_sg.accessdoc (SG), Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

1 Attachment

Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data
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[5]Ares(2021)312399 - Your confirmatory application for access to
documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - GESTDEM 2020/6032

Sent by ve_sg.accessdoc (SG) <[SG request email]>. All responses have
to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par ve_sg.accessdoc (SG) <[SG request email]>. Toutes les
réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Mr Fanta,

 

I refer to your email of 24 November 2020, registered on the same day, by
which you submit a confirmatory application in accordance with Article
7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents ("Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001"), registered under reference number above.

 

I also refer to our holding reply of 15 December 2020, by which the time
limit for replying to your confirmatory application was extended by 15
working days, pursuant to Article 8(2) of Regulation 1049/2001. This
extended time limit expires on 14 January 2021.

 

I regret to have to inform you that we were not able to respond within the
extended time-limit, as we have not yet finalised internal consultations.
I can assure you that we are doing our utmost to provide you with a final
reply as soon as possible.

 

I regret this additional delay and sincerely apologise for any
inconvenience this may cause.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

María OLIVÁN AVILÉS
Head of Unit

European Commission

Secretariat General

SG.C.1 (Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents)

 

References

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1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D6EA84.34CBC340
2. file:///tmp/cid:editdata.mso
3. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
4. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
5. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...

Sg-Acc-Doc@ec.europa.eu, Secrétariat général de la Commission européenne

2 Attachments

Dear Sir,

 

Please find attached an advance copy of the reply to your initial request
for access to documents registered under reference number GESTDEM
2021/0012.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM (LC)

 

European Commission

Secretariat-General

SG C.1 – Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents

[1][email address]

 

 

References

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