EU-Israel Association Council
Under the right of access to documents enshrined in the EU Treaties and as developed in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, I hereby request access to all documents held by the Commission regarding the 13th meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council, held on 24 February 2025 in Brussels.
Specifically, I am requesting:
- Preparatory Materials: All briefing notes, memos, background papers, evaluations, and reports produced or used by the Commission (including the Cabinet of the President and the Cabinet of the High Representative) to prepare for this meeting.
- Official Records: The final agenda, the full list of participants (including titles and affiliations), and the official minutes or summary records of the proceedings.
- Correspondence: All emails, letters, and encrypted messages (e.g., Signal/WhatsApp if used for official business) exchanged between the European Commission and the office/cabinet of the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, concerning the organisation, substance, and follow-up of this meeting.
- Internal Communications: All internal emails and memos within the Commission discussing the outcomes or follow-up actions resulting from the 24 February 2025 meeting.
I request that the search for these documents include all relevant departments, specifically the European External Action Service (EEAS) (acting on behalf of the Commission), DG NEAR, and the Secretariat-General.
If any of these documents are already available online, please provide the direct links. Should any parts of the requested documents be exempt from disclosure, I request that the remaining portions be released in redacted form.
I look forward to receiving your response within the statutory 15 working days.
I would prefer to receive the information via my email.
Résidence Palace, International Press Centre
Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 155
1040 Brussels
Belgium
Yours faithfully,
Elena Sánchez
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 01/04/2026 and registered on 01/04/2026 under the case number
2026/1838.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 27/04/2026. 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 Madam,
Thank you for your initial request for access to documents.
Please be informed that our services will take care of your requested
documents pertaining to European Commission.
Please kindly note that EEAS independently process their own initial
requests as well as confirmatory requests for access to documents.
Therefore, please liasie directly with EEAS for documents pertaining to
them.
Kind regards,
Access to documents team - cr
SG.A.2
Transparency
Dear Madam,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 01/04/2026 under case number EASE 2026/1838.
We are currently working on your request. However, we have not yet been
able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full analysis of
your request. We will not be able to send you the reply within the
prescribed time limit expiring on 27/04/2026, due the time needed for
further internal consultation.
Therefore, in line with Article 7(3) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
we need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new
time limit expires on 21st of May.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
MENA B2
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
This is a kind reminder that I am still awaiting a response to this FOI request. The deadline for responding was 21 May 2026.
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 Ms Sanchez,
Thankyou for your message.
We sincerely apologise for the delay in responding. We are still working
on your request and are doing our very best to provide a full response as
soon as possible.
We appreciate your patience and will update you further in due course.
Should you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to
get in touch.
Yours sincerely,
MENA Access to Documents
Dear Sir/Madam,
Pursuant to Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council, and Commission documents, I am hereby submitting a Confirmatory Application regarding my initial request registered on 1 April 2026 under case reference EASE 2026/1838.
Background and Procedural History:
- On 1 April 2026, I submitted an initial application requesting access to documents held by the Commission regarding the 13th meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council held on 24 February 2025.
- On 27 April 2026, your services extended the initial 15-working-day deadline by an additional 15 working days under Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, setting a new expiry date of 21 May 2026.
- On 8 June 2026, I sent a reminder noting that the statutory time limit had passed.
- On 9 June 2026, the MENA Access to Documents team acknowledged the delay, apologising and stating they were still working on the file.
As of today, more than six weeks have elapsed since the legally mandated, maximum extended deadline of 21 May 2026, and no formal decision or documents have been provided.
Grounds for the Confirmatory Application:
According to Article 7(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the failure of the institution to reply within the prescribed time limit shall be treated as an implicit negative decision and entitles the applicant to make a confirmatory application.
While I welcome the communication and apology from the MENA team on 9 June, administrative workloads and ongoing internal consultations cannot legally override or suspend the strict timeline set out by EU law. The principles of transparency and predictability require the Commission to respect its statutory duties.
Therefore, I respectfully request that the Secretariat-General review this implicit refusal, expedite the processing of my request, and grant full public access to the requested documents concerning the 13th meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council.
In accordance with Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, I look forward to receiving the Commission's decision on this confirmatory application within 15 working days.
Yours faithfully,
Elena Sánchez
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2026/1838, sent on 06/07/2026 and registered on 17/07/2026.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 10/08/2026. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
Hello,
We are writing concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case [1]2026/1838, registered on 17/07/2026.
As you did not receive a reply to your initial request registered on
01/04/2026, you submitted a confirmatory request.
In the meantime, the initial reply in question was sent to you on
30/07/2026.
Against this background, the Secretariat-General has closed your
confirmatory request.
You can submit a new_rec confirmatory request for this case in accordance
with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 if you wish to ask for a
review of the initial reply.
Kind regards,
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/
Dear Ms Sánchez,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2026/1838.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
European Commission
DG MENA Access to Documents Team
Dear Ms Sánchez,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2026/1838.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
European Commission
DG MENA Access to Documents Team
Dear applicant,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2026/1838.
Kind regards,
Secretariat-General - Access to documents
European Commission