Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

In accordance with Article 2(1) and 6(1) of the Regulation 1049/2001, Article 3 of the Regulation 1367/2006 and Article 42 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, ClientEarth AISBL hereby request access to the following documents:

1. A list of all meetings and discussions between the relevant Directorates General of the European Commission and President von der Leyen and/or members of her cabinet in preparation of its decision to launch the public consultation on wolf populations and their impacts (information available at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscor...), as well as all minutes, records, notes and other reports of these meetings/ discussions.

2. Any briefings, studies, reports or other evidence prepared for or referred to during the meetings identified under point 1 above or after them, as well as any briefings, reports or other evidence prepared or received specifically in connection with the decision to launch the public consultation referred to above.

3. A list of all meetings and discussions that have taken place between relevant Directorates General of the European Commission, President von der Leyen and/or members of her cabinet on one hand and representatives of individual enterprises (including lobby consultancies and law firms), natural persons, industry associations and/or public authorities on the other hand regarding the wolf population in Europe and their impacts, as well as specifically regarding the above public consultation and the review of the conservation status of wolves in Europe, since the adoption of the European Parliament resolution of 24 November 2022 on the protection of livestock farming and large carnivores in Europe. We also request access to all minutes, records, notes and other reports of these meetings/ discussions and any briefings prepared for these meetings or after the meetings.

4. All correspondence (including emails, letters, attached documents and enclosures, SMS & any other type of messages processed through phone apps – e.g., WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram etc, recorded voice messages) received by / exchanged between the European Commission staff, President von der Leyen and/or members of her cabinet on the one hand, and representatives of individual enterprises (including lobby consultancies and law firms), natural persons, industry associations and/or public authorities on the other hand which mention the wolves population in Europe, since the adoption of the European Parliament resolution of 24 November 2022 on the protection of livestock farming and large carnivores in Europe.

In the interests of good administration, ClientEarth AISBL requests that the response clearly identifies the documents held by the Commission in relation to each of these categories and clearly indicates to which category the disclosed documents relate.

To the extent possible, our preference is to receive documents in electronic format. Documents that cannot be sent in electronic format should be sent to Rue du Trône 60 (3ème étage), Box 11, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium – to the attention of Ioannis Agapakis and Ilze Tralmaka. Should you transmit documents to us by regular post, we kindly ask you to announce it to us in advance by email.

We remain at your disposal to answer any questions you may have regarding this request.

Yours faithfully,
Ioannis Agapakis
Lawyer, Protected Wildlife & Habitats
ClientEarth
[email address]

Ilze Tralmaka
Lawyer/Law and Policy Advisor, Environmental Democracy
ClientEarth
[email address]

Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

Confirmatory Application in relation to Request for access to documents registered under number 2023/5628 and 2023/5418

In conformity with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, ClientEarth AISBL, (the “Applicant”) hereby submits a confirmatory application to (i) the initial response provided by the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development( on 16 October 2023 to the request for access to documents registered under number 2023/5628, as well as to (ii) the implied negative refusal of Secretariat General to the request for access to documents registered under number 2023/5418.

Background of the Request:

The Applicant submitted the request on 20 September 2023 via the platform AsktheEU.org addressed to the Secretariat General of the European Commission (“Request”). Despite this, the Commission has responded to the Request outside the AsktheEU.org platform, as a postal code was missing from the details of the Applicant’s address.

Noting that the postal code issue has been corrected, the Applicant is respectfully asking the Commission to ensure that the whole handling process of the Request remains the original one, which in this case is AsktheEU.org.

Correspondent to the same Request, the Commission has transmitted to the Applicant three separate registration numbers from three different units of the Commission, as follows:

- On 20 September 2023 the Secretariat General informed the Applicant that it had registered the Request under case number 2023/5418. In connection to the request registered under this registration number, the Applicant has not received any response up to the present date (“Implied negative refusal”). In this context, the Applicant is thus submitting a confirmatory application in accordance with Article 7(4) of Regulation 1049/2001 to the implied negative refusal of Secretariat General to this request.

- On 10 October 2023 DG ENVI informed the Applicant that it had registered the Request under reference number 2023/5591. DG ENVI also extended the deadline originally expiring on the 12 October 2023 by additional 15 working days, until 6 November 2023 as the application concerns documents held by different Services. On 6 November 2023 the Applicant received a proposal for fair solution from DG ENVI, in which the Applicant was asked to reduce the scope of the Request as a large number of documents was identified.

- On 11 October 2023 DG AGRI informed the Applicant that it had registered the Request under case number 2023/5628. The DG AGRI also extended the time limit for providing response by additional 15 working days, i.e., until 6 November 2023 as the application concerns documents held by different Services. However, on 16 October 2023, within the deadline, DG AGRI provided its initial response identified under Ref. Ares(2023)7011897 to the Request (“Decision”).

Preliminary remarks

Despite the fact that the Applicant sent only one Request to the Commission as one institution (which was addressed to the Secretariat General in its capacity of central unit of the Commission dealing with access to documents request) and initially registered it under number 2023/5418, the Commission has subsequently split the initial Request into three separate handling processes. The Applicant was only informed about the registration of the Request by DG ENVI and DG AGRI on 10 October and 11 October respectively, when it received notifications of extension of the deadline for providing their respective responses.

So far the handling process of the Request by the Commission has not been done in line with Regulation 1049/2001 and the right to good administration under Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and thus constitutes maladministration. By splitting the same Request in three separate handling processes, each with different timelines and initial responses the Commission has created confusion and an unpredictable handling process of the Request. It also risks failing to identify documents that should fall under the scope of the Request but are actually held by another unit, such as the Cabinet of the President of the Commission. Also, the fair solution request should be sent in due time to the applicant of a request for access to documents so that it can still be handled within the timeframe laid down in regulation 1049/2001, not in the last day of the extended deadline.

In this context, the Applicant respectfully asks the Secretariat General to ensure that the handling process of the Request is done in accordance with the Regulation 1049/2001, in the sense that the Commission is ensuring that it identifies all the documents that fall under the scope of the Request and is able to provide the Applicant with a complete full list of such documents. Specifically, the Applicant reasonably believes that there may be documents held by other units, such as the Cabinet of the President of the Commission, as the Request included documents connected to the President and her Cabinet’s representatives
In accordance with the principle of good administration, the Applicant would kindly request the Commission that for the future handling process of access to this and future documents requests, the Commission is ensuring one centralised answer on behalf of the Commission, which would ensure more clarity and predictability in terms of the handling process of requests for access to documents, as well as less procedural work on behalf of both the Applicant and the EU institutions (elaborating more than one confirmatory application/ decision, initial responses).

Scope of the initial Request

In the initial Request the Applicant sought access to documents relating to the launch of the public consultation on wolf populations and their impacts (information available at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscor...) (the “Consultation”). In particular the Applicant sought:

1. A list of all meetings and discussions between the relevant Directorates General of the European Commission and President von der Leyen and/or members of her cabinet in preparation of its decision to launch the public consultation on wolf populations and their impacts, as well as all minutes, records, notes and other reports of these meetings/ discussions.

2. Any briefings, studies, reports or other evidence prepared for or referred to during the meetings identified under point 1 above or after them, as well as any briefings, reports or other evidence prepared or received specifically in connection with the decision to launch the public consultation referred to above.

3. A list of all meetings and discussions that have taken place between relevant Directorates General of the European Commission, President von der Leyen and/or members of her cabinet on one hand and representatives of individual enterprises (including lobby consultancies and law firms), natural persons, industry associations and/or public authorities on the other hand regarding the wolf population in Europe and their impacts, as well as specifically regarding the above public consultation and the review of the conservation status of wolves in Europe, since the adoption of the European Parliament resolution of 24 November 2022 on the protection of livestock farming and large carnivores in Europe. We also request access to all minutes, records, notes and other reports of these meetings/ discussions and any briefings prepared for these meetings or after the meetings.

4. All correspondence (including emails, letters, attached documents and enclosures, SMS & any other type of messages processed through phone apps – e.g., WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram etc, recorded voice messages) received by / exchanged between the European Commission staff, President von der Leyen and/or members of her cabinet on the one hand, and representatives of individual enterprises (including lobby consultancies and law firms), natural persons, industry associations and/or public authorities on the other hand which mention the wolves population in Europe, since the adoption of the European Parliament resolution of 24 November 2022 on the protection of livestock farming and large carnivores in Europe.
Decision provided by the Commission (DG AGRI)

The Decision was submitted on 16 October 2023 informing that DG AGRI had identified three documents falling within the scope of the initial Request. It allowed partial access to:

1. A briefing for the Director-General for the Meeting with MEP Marcus Ferber and the representatives of Bavarian mountain farmers;

2. A briefing for Director-General Wolfgang Burtscher for SPACE 2023 – the international exhibition for animal breeding held on 14-16 September 2023 in Rennes. The Applicant was also informed that the Director-General did not attend the event.

The above-mentioned documents were partially disclosed by DG AGRI as the exception from disclosure protecting the personal data included in the documents was applied, in accordance with Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. The Applicant does not challenge this decision taken by DG AGRI to apply this exception from disclosure. Also, the documents were redacted as parts of them had fallen out of the scope of the Request. The Applicant does not challenge this decision taken by DG AGRI to redact the part falling out of the scope of the Request.

3. It also provided a link to a public document entitled “Livestock and large carnivores: Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and funding opportunities”. However, we were not able to open the link and are therefore kindly requesting the Commission to send us the document again as an attachment or through a free platform from which we can download it.

Scope of Confirmatory Application: in connection to the implied negative refusal for the Request number 2023/5418 and the Decision issued in relation to Request number 2023/5628
The present Confirmatory Application is submitted in relation to the DG AGRI Decision to the Request registered under number 2023/5628, as well as in relation to the Secretariat’s General implied negative refusal to the Request registered under number 2023/5418.

With regard to the implied negative refusal connected to Request number 2023/5418, the Applicant is submitting the present confirmatory application in accordance with Article 7(4) of Regulation 1049/2001.
With regard to the Decision, the Confirmatory Application regards the number of documents identified by DG AGRI as falling under the scope of the Request. Concretely, the Applicant requests a reconsideration of the Decision in relation to the documents identified as falling under the scope of the Request, as the Applicant reasonably considers that the Commission may hold more documents than the ones identified in the Decision, as falling under the scope of the Request. Due to the involvement of President von der Leyen in the launch of the Consultation, the Applicant also reasonably believes that there may be documents falling under the scope of the Request which are not held by either DG ENVI or DG AGRI, but by other units, such as the Cabinet of the President of the Commission.

As confirmed by the CJEU (Case T-653/16 Malta v Commission, para. 63), it is well-established practice for the institutions to verify as part of the assessment of a confirmatory application whether all documents falling under the scope of the request have been identified at the initial stage. Following this verification, “an institution may, at any moment, including for the first time during the examination of the confirmatory application to the application for access, identify further documents potentially related to the application” (para. 84). Furthermore, according to Case T-468/16, Verein Deutsche Sprache e. V. v EU Commission, the applicant in a request for access to documents can rebut the presumption of legality attached to the statement of the EU institution relating to the non-existence of documents requested by submitting relevant supporting evidence (para. 35).

In the Decision, DG AGRI provides no document containing information on the meetings/ discussions or any exchanges of information between the Commission’s DGs, including DG AGRI, and President van der Leyen or members of her cabinet in relation to the decision to launch the Consultation (points 1 and 2 of the Request). The Applicant finds it surprising that such documents do not exist, considering the call of President van der Leyen, proposing the consultation, which concludes that “the concentration of wolf packs in some European regions has become a real danger for livestock and potentially also for humans” without providing data to support that conclusion. The Applicant reasonably considers that there should have been some relevant discussions/ meetings/ briefings within the Commission, supporting this statements/ conclusion. From the documents that were identified and disclosed by DG AGRI in the Decision, there is no solid evidence to support this conclusion.

DG AGRI’s competence in agricultural policy is directly relevant for collecting data on how various factors, including large carnivores, impact livestock, as evidenced by document no. 1 (according to the list Ref. Ares(2023)7011897 of documents identified as falling under our Request) regarding the meeting held between MEP Farber and the representatives of Bavarian mountain farmers in which the impact of wolves was discussed.

However, the Decision does not disclose any documents containing data received from the meeting or event identified in the Decision or any other meetings with the representatives of the farming industry, relevant natural persons, public authorities or any other meetings as requested in points 3 and 4 of the initial Request. The Decision also does not identify any documents relating to meetings/ discussions or exchanges between relevant Directorates General of the European Commission, President von der Leyen and/or members of her cabinet on the one hand and representatives of individual enterprises (including lobby consultancies and law firms), natural persons, industry associations and/or public authorities on the other hand in preparation of the launch of the Consultation.

In this context, the Applicant respectfully asks the Commission for a new examination of the documents that fall under the scope of the Request and requests access to any existing document that may be further identified, in accordance with the case-law mentioned above.

Final remarks

The Applicant is respectfully asking the Commission to provide an answer to this Confirmatory Application relating to the Request registered under numbers 2023/5628 and 2023/5418 in a single decision.
We, the Applicant, are looking forward to receiving your response to the present Confirmatory Application.

Yours faithfully,

Ioannis Agapakis
Lawyer, Protected Wildlife & Habitats
ClientEarth, Rue du Trône 60 (3ème étage), Box 11, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
[email address]

Ilze Tralmaka
Lawyer/Law and Policy Advisor, Environmental Democracy
ClientEarth, Rue du Trône 60 (3ème étage), Box 11, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
[email address]

Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

On 8 November 2023 we submitted a Confirmatory Application in relation to the Request for Access to documents registered under number 2023/5628 and 2023/5418. We note that your deadline for sending a Confirmatory Decision expired on 29 November 2023 (deadline which has not been extended). However, to date we have not received either a final decision in relation the Confirmatory Application.

In this context as the deadline for sending the Confirmatory Decision has expired, we still await your response to our Confirmatory Application that should be sent as soon as possible.

Thank you for your support on this matter.

Yours faithfully,

Ioannis Agapakis
Lawyer, Protected Wildlife & Habitats
ClientEarth, Rue du Trône 60 (3ème étage), Box 11, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
[[email address]]

Ilze Tralmaka
Lawyer/Law and Policy Advisor, Environmental Democracy
ClientEarth, Rue du Trône 60 (3ème étage), Box 11, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
[[email address]]