Access to submitted proposals, periodic and final reports of EU-H2020-MSCA projects
Dear Research Executive Agency,
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:
-Submitted Proposal
-First periodic report
-Final report
of the three projects with grant ID: 690850; ID:823995 and ID:645740.
If full disclosure is not possible, I kindly request a partial or redacted version.
I prefer to receive the information by email in electronic form (PDF).
My postal address is Erfprins 18,2342CK, Oegstgeest, The Netherlands.
Please confirm receipt of this request in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation 1049/2001.
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Ottaviani
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping
[4]AOR- Request for access to documents- various projects H2020 - Mr
Ottaviani - Ares(2025)10603762 (Please use this link only if you are an
Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e)
utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr Ottaviani
We refer to your message requesting access to documents via the website
AsktheEU on 1/12/2025 and to your previous application requesting access
to documents clarified on 27/11/2025 both, submitted to the European
Research Executive Agency(REA) and registered under REA reference number
Ares(2025)10602345.
Please disregard the acknowledgement of receipt sent to you by REA on
28/11/2025 under reference number Ares(2025)10451582 related to your
clarifications as this email acknowledges both of your requests below
quoted including the one with reference number Ares(2025)10450759.
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
23/12/2025. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.
Please note that both requests will be treated as one combined request,
which might need to be treated as wide scope request since it relates to
various projects (13 projects) and the number of documents identified
within the scope of the request could be very large. Should your request
be indeed a wide scope request, we will come back to you shortly with the
invitation to reduce its scope in a way that would make its treatment
manageable.
• Request clarified 27/11/2025
previously registered as Ares(2025)10450759
thank you very much for your explanation and quick reply.
With respect of your questions about decision letters:
• Does it mean letters issued within the framework of
an audit, control or recovery procedure?
MO: YES.
• Does it mean any letter accompanying a payment or a
recovery?
MO: YES
• Does it mean any correspondence between REA and the
entity concerned related to the grants listed?
MO: NO, only the letters related to control, implementation of an audit ,
recovery and payment decision letters.
• Could you also specify the distinction for you
between decision and final letters?
MO: Decision letters are the letter sent to notify at the end of a
decision-making progress . Final letter is the last letter sent to the
institution either with a recovery or a payment confirmation.
To clarify further and refine the request , under the right of access to
documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am
requesting documents that contain the following information:
1) • Decision letters, Final letters, pre-information
letters, payment of the balance letter; payment letters and recovery
letters,
• Produced by REA and sent to the entity with PIC
999988424
• Covering the period 2023, 2024 and up to 31-10-2025
• Concerning the following Grants ID:721432; ID:
642414; ID:860303; ID:813343;ID:722433; ID:722098; ID:860635; ID:860627;
ID:860898; and ID:777682.
2) Other Decision letters requested:
decision (redacted) letters issued by REA within the framework of an
extensive audit, control and recovery procedure to the same institution in
the period 2023, 2024 and up to 31-10-2025 : specifically any letter
accompanying the implementation of an audit or control and
payment/recovery following an audit and ex-post control of the
institution.
It does not mean any correspondence between REA and the entity concerned.
• Request submitted 1/12/2025
“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:
-Submitted Proposal
-First periodic report
-Final report
of the three projects with grant ID: 690850; ID:823995 and ID:645740.”
Kindly note that the AsktheEU.org website is a private third-party website
which has no link with any institution of the European Union. Therefore,
the European Commission or REA cannot be held accountable for any
technical issues or problems linked to the use of this system.
Please also 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 European Commission or REA. For further
information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy
policy.
We understand that the third party running that website usually publishes
the content of applicants’ correspondence with the European Commission or
REA on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have
communicated to the European Commission or REA (e.g. your private postal
address). Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply
that REA will send to the email address of the applicants generated by the
AsktheEU.org website.
If you do not wish your correspondence with REA to be published on the
AsktheEU.org website, you can provide us with an alternative, private
e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, REA will send all
future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private
address.
Yours faithfully,
REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
For information related to the processing of your personal data by REA,
you may consult the relevant [5]Data Protection Notice
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01DC63B6.395B6180
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
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4. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
5. https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/...
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping
[4]Wide Scope request- Request for access to documents- various projects
H2020 - Mr Ottaviani - Ares(2025)11084049 (Please use this link only if
you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes
un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr Ottaviani,
We refer to your request for access to documents mentioned in the subject
submitted to the European Research Executive Agency (REA) under
Regulation (EC) 1049/2001, registered under the reference number
Ares(2025)10602345.
We have identified 137 documents that fall under your scope of interest.
Those documents need to be assessed individually, and third parties need
to be consulted. Such a detailed analysis and consultation cannot be
carried out within the normal time limits set out in Regulation 1049/2001
regarding public access to documents.
Article 6(3) of the Regulation provides that, in the event of an
application relating to very long documents or a very large number of
documents, the institution concerned may extend the time limit by
additional 15 working days and confer with the applicant with a view to
finding a fair solution. In accordance with the case law of the EU Courts,
such a solution can only concern the content, or the number of documents
applied for, not the deadline for replying[1]. This means that the
requestor should reduce the scope of their request in a way that would
enable its treatment by the institution within the extended deadline of 15
+ 15 working days from the registration of the request.
Based on those provision, we inform you that we need to extend the time
limit to respond to your request by 15 working days, which means that we
will respond to your request by 23/01/2026.
In view of reaching a fair solution, we kindly ask you to narrow down the
scope of your request to reduce it to a more manageable number of
documents, by specifying the objective of your request and your specific
interest in the requested documents[2].
In order to help you narrow down your request, please find a list and a
short description of the 137 documents falling within the scope of your
request:
1. Regarding the projects below and your request for access to documents
related to these projects, 23 documents related to the payment letters
and/or payment of the balance have been identified:
Project Project Acronym Total
Number number of
documents
860898 FIDELIO 4
860627 CLARIFY 4
860635 NEUcrest 4
813343 INITIATE 4
860303 proEVLifeCycle 4
777682 CANCER 3
Please note that for the projects: LISTEN, CARBON and DNAREPAIRMAN, we
could not identify documents within the temporal scope of your request.
For the project TargetCaRE, you submitted a similar request for access to
documents which is ongoing and for which a fair solution was reached after
you replied to REA message on 2/12/2025 – Ares(2025)10573921. Therefore,
this project has not been included in the scope of this request.
2. Regarding the projects RUBICON, EXACT and PRECeDi and your request for
access to documents related to these projects, 114 documents were
identified as follows:
Project RUBICON
• SEALED proposal
• Periodic Report RP1
◦ CORE
◦ COVER Letter
◦ PR Questionnaire (Dissemination and exploitation of results)
◦ PR critical risks (Critical implementation risks and mitigation
actions)
◦ MILESTONES
◦ DELIVERABLES
◦ Publishable summary
◦ PR_FINANCIAL_STATEMENT_OF EACH PARTNER (5 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS one
for each partner)
◦ PR_RESEARCHERS (Researcher Data)
• Periodic Report RP2
CORE
◦ PR_COVER LETTER
◦ FINAL_FINANCIAL_SUMMARY
◦ PR_CRITICAL_RISKS
◦ PR_DELIVERABLES
◦ PR_FINANCIAL_STATEMENT_PARTNER (5 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS one for each
partner)
◦ PR_MILESTONES
◦ PR_QUESTIONNAIRE_2 (Dissemination and exploitation of results)
◦ PR_RESEARCHERS_2 (Researcher data)
◦ PUBLISHABLE SUMMARY
Project EXACT -
• Sealed proposal
• Periodic Report 1
◦ RP1 - CORE
◦ COVER LETTER
◦ CRITICAL RISKS
◦ PR_DELIVERABLES
◦ PR_FINANCIAL_STATEMENT_PARTNERS (17 Financial Statements one for
each partner)
◦ PR_MILESTONES_1
◦ PR_PUBLISHABLE SUMMARY
◦ PR_QUESTIONNAIRE_1 (Dissemination and exploitation of results)
◦ PR_RESEARCHERS_1 (2) (Research Data)
• Periodic Report 2
◦ RP2 – CORE
◦ Cover letter
◦ FINAL_FINANCIAL_SUMMARY_2
◦ PR_CRITICAL_RISKS_2
◦ PR_DELIVERABLES_2
◦ PR_FINANCIAL_STATEMENT ( 14 financial statements, one for each
partner)
◦ PR_MILESTONES_2
◦ PR_PUBLISHABLE_SUMMARY_2
◦ PR_QUESTIONNAIRE_2 (Dissemination and exploitation of results)
◦ PR_RESEARCHERS_2 (RESEARCHER DATA)
Project PRECeDI
• Sealed proposal
• Periodic Report 1
◦ RP1 - CORE
◦ COVER PAGES
◦ CRITICAL RISKS
◦ PR1 DELIVERABLES
◦ PR_FINANCIAL_STATEMENT_PARTNER (10 Financial statements, one for
each partner)
◦ PR_PUBLISHABLE_SUMMARY_1
◦ PR_QUESTIONNAIRE_1 (Dissemination and exploitation of results)
◦ PR_RESEARCHERS_1 (2) (Researcher Data)
• Periodic Report 2
◦ RP2 – CORE
◦ COVER LETTER
◦ FINAL_FINANCIAL_SUMMARY_2
◦ CRITICAL RISK
◦ PR_DELIVERABLES (
◦ PR_FINANCIAL_STATEMENT_PARTNER_919322739_2 (9 Financial statements
one for each partner)
◦ PR_PUBLISHABLE_SUMMARY_2
◦ PR_QUESTIONNAIRE_2 - Dissemination and exploitation of results
◦ PR_RESEARCHERS_2 – researcher data
The length of these documents in total varies widely, from 1 to around 128
pages.
According to our first estimates of a total of 997 pages and taking into
account the other tasks that the concerned staff are likely to have to
deal with during the same period, including the several requests that you
recently submitted, the handling of your request [broken down as follows:
individual and specific assessment of the content of each documents in
light of the exceptions of Article 4 of the Regulation; third-party
consultations under Article 4(4) of the Regulation; final assessment of
the documents in light of the received comments; redaction of those parts
of the documents to which one or several exceptions apply; drafting of the
reply; internal approval of the draft decision on your request;
preparation of the reply and of the documents for dispatch (administrative
treatment, etc) would be impossible within the remaining days from the
extended deadline of 30 working days counting from the date of
registration of you application.
It follows that, according to our estimates, a maximum of 20 documents
could possibly be dealt with within this period.
In order to enable us to respect the time-limits of the Regulation
1049/2001, we would like to ask you for a swift reply by email to this
invitation to propose a fair solution, within three (3) working days at
the latest.
In the absence of a reply within three working days, we will unilaterally
restrict the scope of your application to those parts that can be dealt
with within the extended deadline of 30 working days counting from the
registration of your application (the new deadline being 23/01/2026).
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Yours sincerely,
REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[1] Judgment of the Court of Justice of 2 October 2014 in case C-127/13,
Guido Strack v Commission, paragraphs 26-28.
[2] Ibid, paragraph 28; Judgment of the General Court (then 'Court of
First Instance') of 22 May 2012 in case T-344/08, EnBW Energie
Baden-Württemberg v Commission, paragraph 105.
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01DC6B8C.ECDC3440
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
4. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
Dear REA ACCESS DOCUMENTS,
Thank you for your reply , for the clarification provided and the proposal to join the requests and handle them as a single request dated December 12th.
With a view to reaching a fair solution, I hereby narrow my request to a more manageable number of documents by specifying the objective of my request and my specific interest in the documents requested.
From your reply, I understand that REA has not carried out any audits on the selected projects or a wider audit to the institution in the temporal window indicated; otherwise, a final audit report letter produced by REA would exist. I would appreciate your confirmation of this understanding.
The objective of my original, broader request is to understand how activities under this type of grant are organised and how the financial aspects of EU MSCA projects are handled by the beneficiary institution. National press reports have raised public concerns regarding suspected irregularities carried out by the institution. As an EU citizen, I consider that disclosure of the requested information clearly serves an overriding public interest, as it concerns the implementation and financial management of EU public funds. Transparency in this regard is essential to ensure accountability and public trust in the administration of Union research programmes.
I acknowledge that certain parts of the documents may need to be redacted in order to protect personal data or legitimate economic interests and IP rights. However, such redactions should be limited and proportionate. In particular, they should not result in the concealment of substantive information relating to the organisation of grant activities or the use of EU funds, as this would undermine the purpose of access under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. As further refinement and clarification, my request does not include data of the other beneficiaries.
Accordingly, a sample of projects has been randomly selected based on CORDIS records. I hereby request the following documents:
1. Project 813343 – Initiate
• The two payment letters and/or payment of the balance at project closure to the institution.
2. Project proEVLifecycle
• The two payment letters and/or payment of the balance at project closure to the institution.
3. Project RUBICON
• Sealed proposal
• Periodic Report 2 (RP2 – Core)
• Periodic Report 2 – Financial Statement (PIC 999988424)
• Periodic Report 2 – PR_RESEARCHERS (Researcher Data)
4. Project EXACT
• Sealed proposal
• Periodic Report 2 (RP2 – Core)
• Periodic Report 2 – Financial Statement (PIC 999988424)
• Periodic Report 2 – PR_RESEARCHERS (Researcher Data)
5. Project PRECEDI
• Sealed proposal
• Periodic Report 2 (RP2 – Core)
• Periodic Report 2 – Financial Statement (PIC 999988424)
• Periodic Report 2 – PR_RESEARCHERS (Researcher Data)
6. Letter 7 July 2025 (Ares(2025)5447059) which is a letter produced and sent by REA to institution regarding recovery of funding.
I thank you in advance for your cooperation in providing the mentioned 17 documents fro January 23rd 2026 and remain at your disposal should further clarification be required.
Yours sincerely,
Matteo Ottaviani
Yours sincerely,
Matteo Ottaviani
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping
[4]FW: Wide Scope request- Request for access to documents- various
projects H2020 - Mr Ottaviani - Ares(2025)11084049 - Ares(2025)11417107
(Please use this link only if you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien
exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr Ottaviani,
Thank you for your prompt response narrowing the scope of your request to
the documents listed below. Thank you also for the information on your
request as the information helped to understand the scope of your request.
We consider that we have reached a fair solution as you have reduced the
scope to the documents listed below.
As mentioned in our previous message you will receive REA’s reply by
23/01/2026
“1. Project 813343 – Initiate
• The two payment letters and/or payment of the balance at project closure
to the institution.
2. Project proEVLifecycle
• The two payment letters and/or payment of the balance at project closure
to the institution.
3. Project RUBICON
• Sealed proposal
• Periodic Report 2 (RP2 – Core)
• Periodic Report 2 – Financial Statement (PIC 999988424)
• Periodic Report 2 – PR_RESEARCHERS (Researcher Data)
4. Project EXACT
• Sealed proposal
• Periodic Report 2 (RP2 – Core)
• Periodic Report 2 – Financial Statement (PIC 999988424)
• Periodic Report 2 – PR_RESEARCHERS (Researcher Data)
5. Project PRECEDI
• Sealed proposal
• Periodic Report 2 (RP2 – Core)
• Periodic Report 2 – Financial Statement (PIC 999988424)
• Periodic Report 2 – PR_RESEARCHERS (Researcher Data)
6. Letter 7 July 2025 (Ares(2025)5447059) which is a letter produced and
sent by REA to institution regarding recovery of funding."
Regarding your question, we would like to confirm that we could not
identify documents falling withing the scope of your request related to
REA audits linked to the institution with PIC number 999988424 in the
projects mentioned in your request, during the years mentioned (i.e. 2023,
2024, 2025).
Kind regards,
REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
References
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1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01DC70DB.8D8E8A70
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
4. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
Dear Mr Ottaviani,
Please find attached the REA reply, registered under registration number Ares(2026)794110 to your request for access to documents registered under registration number Ares(2025)10602345.
Document 9 of ANNEX I will be sent separately due to technical/size limitations
Please acknowledge receipt of this message by return email to [REA request email].
Yours faithfully,
REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping
[4]REA Reply to your access to documents request – Ares(2025)10602345-
various projects -document 9 - Ares(2026)797659 (Please use this link
only if you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous
êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr Ottaviani,
Following our previous message Ares(2026) Ares(2026)794110, in the
following link you will find Document 9 of ANNEX I of the REA reply to
your request for access to documents Ares(2025)10602345.
[5]https://circabc.europa.eu/share/fs/rwb03...
Please acknowledge receipt of this message by return email to
[6][REA request email].
Yours faithfully,
REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01DC8C83.6D470E90
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
4. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
5. https://circabc.europa.eu/share/fs/rwb03...
6. mailto:[REA request email]
Dear Research Executive Agency,
Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.
I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Access to submitted proposals, periodic and final reports of EU-H2020-MSCA projects'.
The REA agency refused to disclose the document N. 29 letter listed in Annex 1. This confirmatory application is limited exclusively to Document No. 29 and does not concern the other documents addressed in the initial reply.
According to the REA’s decision, access to Document No. 29 was refused on the basis of Article 4(2), first indent, of Regulation 1049/2001, on the grounds that disclosure would undermine the protection of commercial interests, and that no overriding public interest in disclosure could be identified. Furthermore, the REA concluded that meaningful partial access under Article 4(6) was not possible .
I respectfully submit that this assessment is overly restrictive. The REA indicates that Document No. 29 contains sensitive financial information and internal administrative data related to the recovery of Union funds. As such, Document No. 29 does not merely reflect private commercial strategy or market-facing information, but rather documents the exercise of public authority by the REA in the context of financial recovery and budgetary correction. Documents of this nature directly concern the implementation of the EU budget and the enforcement of grant conditions.
There is therefore a strong public interest in enabling scrutiny of how recovery decisions are reasoned, calculated and justified, in line with the principles of sound financial management and accountability enshrined in Article 317 TFEU.
Disclosure of Document No. 29 serves an overriding public interest for the following reasons:
1)Accountability in the recovery of EU funds
Recovery decisions concern public money already disbursed from the EU budget. Public scrutiny of the administrative reasoning underpinning such recoveries is essential to ensure that corrective measures are lawful, proportionate and justified.
2)Verification of good administration and equal treatment
Access to the administrative reasoning contained in Document No. 29 is necessary to assess whether recovery rules are applied consistently and without arbitrariness across beneficiaries, in accordance with the principle of good administration under Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
3)Detection of errors or systemic weaknesses
Independent scrutiny of recovery assessments contributes to identifying potential errors, misinterpretations of grant rules or systemic weaknesses in recovery procedures, without implying any allegation of wrongdoing.
These interests are public in nature, extend beyond the individual beneficiary concerned, and outweigh the protection of purely private commercial interests, particularly where appropriate safeguards are applied.
The conclusion that meaningful partial access is not possible is, in my view, insufficiently substantiated.
While certain elements of Document No. 29 may legitimately require redaction (such as personal data, bank details or commercially sensitive cost structures), other elements — including the legal basis, reasoning framework, recovery methodology, procedural steps and aggregated recovery figures — can be disclosed without undermining commercial interests.
Partial disclosure under Article 4(6) of Regulation 1049/2001 would therefore allow the REA to adequately protect legitimate commercial interests while ensuring that the overriding public interest identified above is effectively served.
In light of the above, I respectfully request that the REA reconsider its position and grant partial access to Document No. 29, with appropriate redactions limited strictly to information whose disclosure would genuinely undermine protected interests.
I thank you in advance for your careful consideration of this confirmatory application.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/access_...
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Ottaviani
[1]RE: Internal review of access to documents request - Access to
submitted proposals, periodic and final reports of EU-H2020-MSCA projects
- Ares(2026)883099 (Please use this link only if you are an Ares user –
Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr Ottaviani,
We refer to your message dated 25 January 2026 ('confirmatory
application'), regarding REA reply of 23 January 2026 [Ares(2026)797659].
Your confirmatory application has been registered under registration
number Ares(2026)882610. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your request. 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 16
February 2026. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.
Please also note that the private third party running the
AsktheEU.orgwebsite is responsible and accountable for the processing of
your personal data via that website, and not the European Commission or
REA. For further information on your rights, please refer to the third
party’s privacy policy.
We understand that the third party running that website usually publishes
the content of applicants’ correspondence with the European Commission or
REA on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have
communicated to the European Commission or REA (e.g. your private postal
address). Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply
that REA will send to the email address of the applicants generated by the
AsktheEU.org website.
If you do not wish your correspondence with REA to be published on the
AsktheEU.org website, you can provide us with an alternative, private
e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, REA will send all
future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private
address.
Yours faithfully,
REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS