Dear Madam Sir,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting the following documents listed in the Bureau's agenda of Monday 10 September 2018.

- the letter from Ms Morin-Chartier with the request to organise a training session for the members of the Advisory Committee dealing with harassment complaints concerning Members of the European Parliament
- note from the Secretary-General about Resolution on transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions
- note from the Secretary-General about Termination of the 2016 grant awarded to the political foundation at European level Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe
- note from the Secretary-General about Termination of the 2017 grant awarded to the political foundation at European level Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe
- note from the Secretary-General about 2017 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level

When dealing with my request, please keep in mind that an 86 percent majority of the plenary said in the 28 April 2016 resolution on public access to documents that all documents referred to in the Bureau's agenda should "in principle" be published.

Peter Teffer
postal address:
EUobserver
Rue Montoyer 18B
1000 Brussels
Belgium

PS: When sending physical mail, please include the word 'EUobserver' on the envelope

Dear Madam, Sir,

Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.

I refer to my application for access to documents, which was registered on 17/09/2018 under reference A(2018)12787.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/bure...

Only partial access has been given to the letter of Mrs Morin-Chartier, without explanation. The annexes “projects de programme et de liste des participants” and “fiche financiere” have been omitted, while they should have been integral part of the letter.

Access has been denied to four notes from the Secretary-General:
- note from the Secretary-General about Resolution on transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions
- note from the Secretary-General about Termination of the 2016 grant awarded to the political foundation at European level Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe
- note from the Secretary-General about Termination of the 2017 grant awarded to the political foundation at European level Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe
- note from the Secretary-General about 2017 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level

However, the handling of my application for access to documents was done by the secretariat-general of the European Parliament, which the Secretary-General heads. There is a conflict of interest. Regardless of the secretariat-general's intentions and professionalism, it is simply not possible for the body that is led by the secretary general of the European Parliament to take an objective decision about whether to allow access to notes written by the secretary general of the European Parliament.

Secondly, the reasons given by the secretariat-general for keeping the documents confidential are unclear. The argument for not disclosing the note on the termination of the 2016 and 2017 grants awarded to the political foundation at European level Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe, was that “some aspects of the termination procedure are still ongoing” - a formulation that is vague and uncheckable. A clearer argument needs to be given, before one can assess that argument's merit.

The same applies to the reasons for not disclosing the 2017 final reports of political parties and foundations at European level.

It is also striking that the secretariat-general has not granted partial access to the documents.

Keeping these documents confidential is also against the will of the majority of the European Parliament.

On 28 April 2016 the European Parliament adopted a resolution, in which it called on the Parliament "to make available the agendas and feedback notes of the meetings of committee coordinators, the Bureau and the Conference of Presidents, as well as, in principle, all documents referred to in these agendas ... by publishing them on the parliament's website". The text received the support from an 86 percent majority (523 yes votes, 37 no votes, and 46 abstentions).

On 14 September 2017, the European Parliament adopted another resolution (368 yes votes, 161 no votes, and 60 abstentions). In the resolution, the parliament recalled “its calls on the Commission and the Council in its resolution of 28 April 2016 on public access to documents for the years 2014-2015 , in which it: … called for agendas and feedback notes of the meetings of Parliament’s Committee Coordinators, Bureau and Conference of Presidents to be made available, and, in principle, for all documents referred to in those agendas to be made available too, by publishing them on Parliament’s website”.

The notes which I requested, were mentioned in the Bureau agenda. So, a majority of MEPs believe that they should “in principle” be published.

Sincerely,
Peter Teffer
postal address:
EUobserver
Rue Montoyer 18B
1000 Brussels
Belgium
PS: When sending physical mail, please include the word 'EUobserver' on the envelope