Documents of the Ad hoc Working Party on the MFF - Presentation on new own resources, on financial regulation and on Horizon Europe
Dear Council of the European Union,
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:
the presentations by the Commission given during specific meetings of the Ad hoc Working Party on the MFF, namely:
-Commission's presentation on Derogations from the Financial Regulation of 22 May 2026 meeting;
-Commission's presentation on Widening and transition provisions in the Horizon Europe Regulation of 22 May 2026 meeting;
-Commission's presentation on New Own Resources of 2 June 2026 meeting.
We expect the Commission to oppose your request of publication of those documents, as it happened in the past. We therefore remind you that:
-Documents of similar nature have already been released following an access to documents requests (see here: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/documen... or here: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/minutes...)
-That the Council acknowledged the importance of publishing those files as they "are linked to legislative files, for which Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and established case-law require enhanced transparency. The Council considers that even though the documents contain preliminary views or policy options not formally endorsed by the institutions, their disclosure would not affect negatively the ongoing decision-making process. In any case, there appears to be higher public interest justifying the disclosure of the requested documents". (source: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/documen...)
We therefore kindly ask to take all those elements in consideration when assessing the request after the initial reply by the Commission.
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Vespa
Your message has been received by the Transparency and Access to Documents Unit of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. All requests for access to documents are treated on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The General Secretariat will reply to your request within 15 working days upon registration of your request. Requests received before 5 PM on a working day are registered on the same day. Requests received after 5 PM are registered on the first following working day.
***
This notification was sent from an unattended mailbox. Please do not reply.
***
To see the text of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, please click here:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
If the link doesn't open when you click on it, please copy - paste it into your browser.
***
L'unité "Transparence et accès aux documents" du Secrétariat général du Conseil de l'Union européenne a bien reçu votre message. Toutes les demandes d'accès à des documents sont traitées conformément au 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 l'enregistrement de celle-ci. Les demandes reçues les jours ouvrables avant 17 heures sont enregistrées le jour même. Les demandes reçues après 17 heures sont enregistrées le premier jour ouvrable suivant.
***
S'il vous plaît ne répondez pas à ce message, car il a été envoyé d'une boîte aux lettres sans surveillance.
***
Pour consulter le texte du règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001, cliquez ici:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
Si le lien ne s'ouvre pas lorsque vous cliquez dessus, veuillez copier-coller l'adresse dans votre navigateur.
***
Ihre Nachricht ist bei der Dienststelle "Transparenz und Zugang zu Dokumenten" des General-sekretariats des Rates der Europäischen Union eingegangen. Alle Anträge auf Zugang zu Dokumenten werden gemäß der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 vom 30. Mai 2001 über den Zugang der Öffentlichkeit zu Dokumenten des Europäischen Parlaments, des Rates und der Kommission bearbeitet. Das Generalsekretariat wird Ihnen binnen fünfzehn Arbeitstagen nach Registrierung Ihres Antrags eine Antwort übermitteln. Anträge, die an einem Arbeitstag vor 17.00 Uhr eingehen, werden noch am selben Tages registriert. Nach 17.00 Uhr eingehende Anträge werden am erstfolgenden Arbeitstag registriert.
***
Diese Nachricht wurde automatisch generiert. Bitte nicht antworten.
***
Den Text der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 finden Sie hier:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
Wenn sich der Link beim Anklicken nicht öffnet, kopieren Sie den bitte mit "copy/paste" in Ihren Browser.
***
Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council concerning your request for access to documents.
Yours sincerely,
Transparency
General Secretariat of the Council
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit / Transparency
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
www.consilium.europa.eu | [email address]
Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely those of the writer and may not be regarded as stating an official position of the Council of the EU
Clause de non-responsabilité: Les avis exprimés n'engagent que leur auteur et ne peuvent être considérés comme une position officielle du Conseil de l'UE
Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council
concerning your request for access to documents.
Yours sincerely,
Transparency
General Secretariat of the Council
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit / Transparency
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
[1]www.consilium.europa.eu | [2][email address]
Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely those of the writer and may not
be regarded as stating an official position of the Council of the EU
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Dear Council of the European Union,
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 'Documents of the Ad hoc Working Party on the MFF - Presentation on new own resources, on financial regulation and on Horizon Europe'.
The motivation given to withhold the publication of the requested documents is that "the documents in question have been produced by the Commission services and shared with Parliament and Council in the context of the ongoing interinstitutional decision-making process in relation to the Union’s future multiannual financial framework. These documents are particularly sensitive as they concern the future financial framework of the Union. Disclosure of these technical documents, which may contain preliminary views or policy options not formally endorsed by the institutions, could lead to external pressure from interest groups or stakeholders, including those from third countries. Their content risks being misinterpreted or taken out of context, a particular risk given the interconnected nature of the MFF legal instruments. This could in turn undermine the trust between institutions in the context of ongoing negotiations and thereby hamper the efficient conduct of those negotiations."
Such motivation is not consistent with previous decisions of disclosure of similar documents:
-Minutes of some meetings of the Ad Hoc Working Party on the Multiannual Financial Framework (AHWP MFF), which released similar presentations to the one asked with this request, such as Commission's presentations on, inter alia, Synergies across funding programmes, Member States pre-allocated envelopes – allocation methodology, Performance Monitoring Framework, Flexibility in the next MFF architecture, Governance of the MFF, Repayment of NextGenerationEU, Rule of Law and Charter of Fundamental Rights in the next Financial Framework. In total, 17 of such presentations have already been disclosed with my previous request. You can find them here: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/minutes...
Those documents had originally been withheld with a similar reasoning, but after my appeal, they had been released. In that sense, in order to have a different outcome than the previous one, it would be needed to be explained more specifically why those specific documents would constitute a 'higher risk' than those that were released with my previous request, considering that they are similar in nature. Failing to do so would lead to unjustified, discretionary treatment of documents.
As indicated also in my previous request, the value of publication of such presentations remounts to a more in depth explanation of technically complex policy proposals, which is in the interest of the public to understand better before their final approval. We therefore ask you to reverse your decision and publish the identified documents.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/documen...
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Vespa
Your message has been received by the Transparency and Access to Documents Unit of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. All requests for access to documents are treated on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The General Secretariat will reply to your request within 15 working days upon registration of your request. Requests received before 5 PM on a working day are registered on the same day. Requests received after 5 PM are registered on the first following working day.
***
This notification was sent from an unattended mailbox. Please do not reply.
***
To see the text of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, please click here:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
If the link doesn't open when you click on it, please copy - paste it into your browser.
***
L'unité "Transparence et accès aux documents" du Secrétariat général du Conseil de l'Union européenne a bien reçu votre message. Toutes les demandes d'accès à des documents sont traitées conformément au 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 l'enregistrement de celle-ci. Les demandes reçues les jours ouvrables avant 17 heures sont enregistrées le jour même. Les demandes reçues après 17 heures sont enregistrées le premier jour ouvrable suivant.
***
S'il vous plaît ne répondez pas à ce message, car il a été envoyé d'une boîte aux lettres sans surveillance.
***
Pour consulter le texte du règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001, cliquez ici:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
Si le lien ne s'ouvre pas lorsque vous cliquez dessus, veuillez copier-coller l'adresse dans votre navigateur.
***
Ihre Nachricht ist bei der Dienststelle "Transparenz und Zugang zu Dokumenten" des General-sekretariats des Rates der Europäischen Union eingegangen. Alle Anträge auf Zugang zu Dokumenten werden gemäß der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 vom 30. Mai 2001 über den Zugang der Öffentlichkeit zu Dokumenten des Europäischen Parlaments, des Rates und der Kommission bearbeitet. Das Generalsekretariat wird Ihnen binnen fünfzehn Arbeitstagen nach Registrierung Ihres Antrags eine Antwort übermitteln. Anträge, die an einem Arbeitstag vor 17.00 Uhr eingehen, werden noch am selben Tages registriert. Nach 17.00 Uhr eingehende Anträge werden am erstfolgenden Arbeitstag registriert.
***
Diese Nachricht wurde automatisch generiert. Bitte nicht antworten.
***
Den Text der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 finden Sie hier:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
Wenn sich der Link beim Anklicken nicht öffnet, kopieren Sie den bitte mit "copy/paste" in Ihren Browser.
***