Ref. Ares(2023)1112308 - 15/02/2023
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR ENERGY
The Director-General
Brussels, 15/02/2023
MP ener.a.1(2023)1530492
Mr Barnaby Pace
Global Witness
Rue de Commerce 31
1000 Brussels
by email
: ask+request-12350-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – EASE 2022/7349
Dear Mr Pace,
We refer to your e-mail of 20 December 2022 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on 20 December 2022 under the above-mentioned reference
number.
You request access to
all documents—including but not limited to correspondence,
emails, minutes, notes (hand written or electronic), audio or video recordings, verbatim
reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, briefings, and presentations—related to
the meeting on December 14 between Stefano Grassi and GasNaturally.
Your application concerns the following documents:
Nr
Stakeholder
Ares
Date
Title
1
GasNaturally Ares(2022)7730922 09/11/2022 MEETING
REQUEST
SG [open-date] + joint
statement 'The Future of
Gaseous Fuels in the EU
Energy Market'
2
GasNaturally Ares(2023)530778
18/11/2022 RE: Meeting Request: The
Future of Gaseous Fules
in the EU Energy Market
3
GasNaturally Ares(2023)152370
13/12/2022 RE: Meeting Request: The
Future of Gaseous Fules
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111
Office: DM24 08/084 – Tel. direct line +32 229-62496
in the EU Energy Market
4
GasNaturally Ares(2022)8891652 21/12/2022 Meeting
Minutes
-
GasNaturally
5
GasNaturally Not registered
13/12/2022 Briefing for Head of
Cabinet Stefano Grassi:
NOT AUTHORISED
FOR DISCLOSURE
Having examined the documents requested under the provisions of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, I have come to the conclusion that
documents from 1 to 4 listed above may be partially disclosed.
In fact, a complete disclosure of the identified documents is prevented by the exception
concerning the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual outlined in Article
4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, because they contain the following personal data:
- the names/initials and contact information of Commission staff members not
pertaining to the senior management;
- the names/initials and contact details of other natural persons.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation does not allow the transmission of these
personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data transmitted to you
for a specific purpose in the public interest and where there is no reason to assume that
the legitimate interests of the data subject might be prejudiced. In your request, you do not
express any particular interest to have access to these personal data nor do you put forward
any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose
in the public interest.
Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, access cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested
documents, as the need to obtain access thereto for a purpose in the public interest has not
been substantiated and there is no reason to think that the legitimate interests of the
individuals concerned would not be prejudiced by disclosure of the personal data concerned.
Please note that documents originating from third parties are disclosed to you based on
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. However, this disclosure is without prejudice to the rules
on intellectual property, which may limit your right to reproduce or exploit the released
documents without the agreement of the originator, who may hold an intellectual
property right on them. The European Commission does not assume any responsibility
from their reuse.
Access is granted to minutes of a meeting with external parties. This document was
drawn up for internal use under the responsibility of the relevant service. It solely reflects
the service’s interpretation of the interventions made and does not set out any official
position of the third parties to which the document refers, which was not consulted on its
content. It does not reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
With reference to the document n.1,
Joint statement 'The Future of Gaseous Fuels in the
EU Energy Market', the document is already public here:
2
https://gasnaturally.eu/publication/joint-statement-of-the-czech-presidency-and-
gasnaturally-on-the-future-of-gaseous-fuels-in-the-eu-energy-market/
With reference to the document n.5, originating from Commissioner Simson and/or her
Cabinet, we cannot provide the requested briefing for the meeting between Stefano
Grassi and GasNaturally on 14/12/2022. Disclosing the briefing is prevented by the
exception to the right of access laid down in Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 because it would not be beneficial to ongoing relationships with the
interlocutors, and it would therefore potentially undermine the Commission’s decision-
making process in future.
In case you would disagree with this position, you are entitled, in accordance with Article
7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, to submit a confirmatory application requesting the
Commission to review this position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt
of this letter to the Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Unit C.1. ‘Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents’
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels
or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Ditte Juul Jørgensen
3
Electronically signed on 14/02/2023 16:50 (UTC+01) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121
