Documents on cooperation with VoteWatch
Alexander Fanta made this access to documents request to European Parliament This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear European Parliament,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents on the cooperation with the now-defunct VoteWatch website (votewatch.eu). The existence of such a cooperation is confirmed in several public European Parliament documents including the discharge of the EU general budget 2014 (P8_TA(2016)0150), which notes that VoteWatch received two grants (EUR 149 172 in 2012 and EUR 350 000).
I would like to request all documents relating to this cooperation, including the cooperation agreement, contracts, e-mails with stakeholders and other relevant documentation for the entirety of the cooperation.
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Fanta
netzpolitik.org e.V.
Schönhauser Allee 6-7
10119 Berlin
Germany
Our reference: 2022-1081
Dear Mr Fanta,
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your message, which
was registered on Aug 30, 2022.
All applications for public access to documents are treated in compliance
with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access
to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
In accordance with the above-mentioned Regulation, your application will
be handled within 15 working days upon registration of your request.
Your personal data will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU)
2018/1725 of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with
regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions,
bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data. A
detailed privacy statement is available [1]here.
The European Parliament reserves the right to ask for additional
information regarding your identity in order to verify compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the European Parliament’s implementing
measures.
Your attention is drawn to the fact that you have lodged your application
via the AsktheEU.org website, which is a private website not officially
related to the European Parliament. Therefore, the European Parliament
cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to
the use of this system.
In addition, please note that any personal data that you provide by using
AsktheEU.org website may be disclosed to the general public and visible on
this private website. The European Parliament cannot be held responsible
for such disclosure. Should you need to communicate directly to Parliament
any personal data and would like to avoid public disclosure, you may do so
from your private email address by using the following functional mailbox
address: AccesDocs(at)europarl.europa.eu
Best regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate-General for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[2][European Parliament request email]
[3]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreW...
2. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
3. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: 2022-1081
Dear Mr Fanta,
The deadline for replying to your application concerning public access to
documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 registered on 30/08/2022
expires tomorrow, on 20/09/2022.
However, due to the fact that the detailed analysis of all legal aspects
linked to the possible disclosure of the requested document is still
ongoing, in order to reply to your application Parliament exceptionally
needs to extend the time-limit provided for in Article 7(1) of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 by a further 15 working days, in accordance with Article
7(3) of the same regulation.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. We thank you for your
understanding.
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: 2022-1081
Dear Mr Fanta,
Today is the last day of the time-limit for replying to your application.
Please note that the decision is at its last stage within Parliament and
will be adopted and notified to you by post shortly.
Parliament thus wishes to apologise for the delay in adopting the decision
and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours sincerely,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Dear AccesDocs,
thank you for the information. Would it be possible to also send the documents in electronic format as pdf?
Yours sincerely,
Alexander Fanta
Dear AccesDocs,
can you confirm you have sent your reply? Please make the documents available to me also in digital format.
Yours sincerely,
Alexander Fanta
Dear Mr Fanta,
Parliament informs you that its decision replying to your application with reference number 2022-1081 wan sent via DHL on 14 October 2022 (Tracking Code: 1028721536).
According to DHL, such decision was delivered on 17 October 2022 as you can see here:
https://www.dhl.com/be-en/home/tracking/...
Parliament considers therefore that its decision has been properly notified.
Nonetheless, Parliament re-sends again for your convenience its decision as an attachment to this email. The documents disclosed with this decision are digitally available at Parliament's Public Register of Documents here:
https://europa.eu/!48jWyF
Yours sincerely,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[European Parliament request email]
www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Dear European Parliament, dear Mr Welle,
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 on cooperation with VoteWatch'.
I want to challenge the Parliament on all documents it has withheld from disclosure. VoteWatch is no longer operational and therefore no longer has any legitimate commercial interest in the matter. The non-disclosure of any document withheld under Article 4 (2.) should therefore be considered moot.
Also, the European Ombudsman has repeatedly pointed out that not all information about a company is commercially sensitive, so a test should be performed each time to conclude whether the exception applies (European Ombudsman Case: 1701/2011/ANA 24 June 2013; Case: 676/2008/RT 07 July 2010). Disclosure must be granted if it does not undermine the commercial interest of the company, and refusal must be reasoned substantially and sufficiently. The institution is not bound by opposition to disclosure by the economic operator. In this light, I would like to ask the Parliament to re-evaluate my request and grant widest possible disclosure.
Furthermore, I would like to argue for an overriding public interest in disclosure. As the parliament is experimenting with its own open data policy and is making more data available in machine-readable format, it is detrimental to the public interest if information about its past practices is not made available. Additionally it should be noted that public spending and documents associated with it should be allowed widest-possible access to allow for public scrutiny.
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Fanta
Our reference: 2022-1081C
Dear Mr Fanta,
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your confirmatory
application, which was registered on November 8, 2022. We are sending you
this acknowledgement again, as you might not have received it before due
to a technical problem.
All applications for public access to documents are treated in compliance
with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access
to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
In accordance with the above-mentioned Regulation, your application will
be handled within 15 working days upon registration of your request.
Your personal data will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU)
2018/1725 of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with
regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions,
bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data. A
detailed privacy statement is available [1]here.
The European Parliament reserves the right to ask for additional
information regarding your identity in order to verify compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the European Parliament’s implementing
measures.
Your attention is drawn to the fact that you have lodged your application
via the AsktheEU.org website, which is a private website not officially
related to the European Parliament. Therefore, the European Parliament
cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to
the use of this system.
In addition, please note that any personal data that you provide by using
AsktheEU.org website may be disclosed to the general public and visible on
this private website. The European Parliament cannot be held responsible
for such disclosure. Should you need to communicate directly to Parliament
any personal data and would like to avoid public disclosure, you may do so
from your private email address by using the following functional mailbox
address: AccesDocs(at)europarl.europa.eu
Best regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate-General for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[2][European Parliament request email]
[3]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreW...
2. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
3. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: 2022-1081C
Dear Mr Fanta,
The deadline for replying to your confirmatory application concerning
public access to documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is tomorrow,
29/11/2022.
However, as the detailed examination of all legal aspects relating to the
possible disclosure of the requested documents is still ongoing, in order
to reply to your confirmatory application Parliament must exceptionally
extend the time-limit provided for in Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 by a further 15 working days, in accordance with Article 8(2) of
the same Regulation.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. Thank you for your
understanding.
Yours sincerely,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate-General for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: 2022-1081C
Dear Mr Fanta,
The time-limit for replying to your confirmatory application expires
today, the 20^th of December.
The decision replying to your application is in the pipeline but
unfortunately not ready yet. This means that its notification to you will
suffer a delay, also taking into account that the Christmas break is
imminent and Parliament offices will be closed until the 2^nd of January.
Be assured that Parliament will try to finish its decision-making process
as soon as possible and that you will be notified swiftly.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience and we thank you for
your understanding.
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate-General for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb