Commission correspondence with Member States re: Article 25a RRF Regulation (transparency of final recipients)
Alberto Alemanno made this access to documents request to Secretariat General of the European Commission
Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,
Dear Sir or Madam,
Pursuant to Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, I hereby request access to the documents identified below.
Background
Article 25a of Regulation (EU) 2021/241 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility ("RRF Regulation"), as introduced by Regulation (EU) 2023/435 (REPowerEU), requires each Member State to create a public portal disclosing the 100 final recipients receiving the highest amount of funding under the Facility. A dispute exists as to whether “final recipients” within the meaning of Article 25a includes contractors and sub-contractors, or only the immediate grant recipient.
In its Report to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the RRF of 8 October 2025 (COM(2025) 637 final), the Commission records, in Section 1.C, that “in February 2025, the Commission communicated to all Member States the request by the Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Budgetary Control to provide the names of the 100 largest final recipients, including contractors and subcontractors” and that it “subsequently shared the information received from Member States with the European Parliament”.
That report does not, however, disclose which of the 27 Member States responded to that request, what any of the responses contained, or whether any Member State declined to provide the requested information. This application seeks the underlying correspondence in order to establish, on a Member-State-by-Member-State basis, the current state of compliance with that request.
Documents requested
I request access to the following documents, in electronic and machine-readable format wherever they exist in that form:
1. The letter or communication from the Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) to the European Commission, referred to in Section 1.C of COM(2025) 637 final, requesting that Member States provide the names of the 100 largest final recipients under the RRF including contractors and sub-contractors, together with any annexes.
2. The communication(s) sent by the Commission to the 27 Member States in or around February 2025, referred to in the same passage of COM(2025) 637 final, forwarding or relaying that request, including any template, methodology note, or covering letter sent to Member States.
3. All replies received by the Commission from each of the 27 Member States in response to that request, including: (a) the lists themselves, where provided; (b) any communication from a Member State declining or refusing to provide such a list, together with the reasons given; and (c) any indication that a Member State did not respond.
4. Any communication(s) sent by the Commission to the Committee on Budgetary Control summarising, forwarding, or reporting on the replies received from Member States pursuant to the request referred to above, including but not limited to any such communication sent during the first half of 2025.
5. Any further correspondence, minutes, notes, or internal assessments exchanged between the Commission and any Member State on this subject since February 2025.
6. Any internal Commission legal or policy analysis concerning the interpretation of “final recipients” under Article 25a of the RRF Regulation as it relates to contractors and sub-contractors, insofar as not already reflected in the Commission's published Guidance of 3 March 2023 and 22 July 2024, or in Annex V to the 2024 RRF Annual Report.
For the avoidance of doubt, this request covers documents falling within the above categories regardless of the Member State concerned, so as to provide a complete picture across all 27 Member States.
Partial access
Should the Commission consider that full disclosure of any of the requested documents would undermine an interest protected under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, I request, pursuant to Article 4(6), that partial access be granted to the parts of the document not covered by the exception(s) relied upon, and that the specific exception applied to each redaction be identified.
Time limit
I would be grateful if this application could be processed within the 15-working-day period provided for in Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Should the Commission require an extension pursuant to Article 7(3), I would ask to be notified in advance, with reasons, of the extended date by which a reply will be given.
Applicant
This application is made pursuant to Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Please address all correspondence to the details set out above.
Yours faithfully,
Professor Alberto Alemanno
Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law, HEC Paris
c/o
The Good Lobby
Rue d’Edimbourgh 26
1050 Brussels
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 Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 16/07/2026 and registered on 16/07/2026 under the case number
2026/3602.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 07/08/2026. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Mr Alemanno,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2026/3602.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
DG ECFIN Unit B4
Dear Mr Alemanno,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2026/3602.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
DG ECFIN Unit B4
Dear Mr Alemanno,
We refer to your request for access to European Commission documents
registered on 17 July 2026 under the reference number 2026/3602.
Please disregard the reply sent on 28 August and instead consider this,
amended version.
With apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you
for your understanding,
Best regards,
ECFIN Unit B4