European Defence Fund and conflict of interest
Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents on the Ombudsman inquiry on conflicts of interest and the European Defence Fund.
Here are different links to the Ombudsman inquiry, and if they don't work, you'll find the press release's content below. https://europa.eu/!QK4VVr
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/european-...
https://www.euractiv.com/section/defence...
DOCUMENTS REQUESTED
I am please requesting all relevant Commission documents (notes, briefs, memos, minutes, emails, etc) related to the Ombudsman's European Defence Fund's conflict of interest inquiry.
And more specifically:
1. In its press release, the Ombudsman mentions "previous correspondence with the Commission on this matter, which indicated that it largely relies on experts’ self-declarations to prevent potential conflicts of interest."
I would please request the correspondence mentioned, and if they're covered by some sort of confidentiality, I would please request all relevant documents (notes, briefs, memos, minutes, emails) used to prepare the official correspondence.
2. In its press release, the Ombudsman says it has "sent a series of questions to the Commission". I would please request the Commission's answers to those questions.
If they're covered by some sort of confidentiality because the inquiry is ongoing, I would please request all relevant documents (notes, briefs, memos, minutes, emails) used to prepare the official answers.
Let me know if the request is clearer. Thanks.
Yours faithfully,
Laura Kayali
Rue de la loi 62, 1040 Brussels
Belgium
The full text of the Ombudsman's press release:
The European Ombudsman has opened an inquiry into how the European Commission ensures external experts who help it evaluate European Defence Fund (EDF) project proposals do not have conflicts of interest.
Contrary to the general practice for the evaluation of proposals meant to receive EU funding, the Commission is not required to make public the names of the experts it consults for EDF-backed projects.
The Ombudsman’s inquiry follows previous correspondence with the Commission on this matter, which indicated that it largely relies on experts’ self-declarations to prevent potential conflicts of interest.
As a first step, the Ombudsman has sent a series of questions to the Commission. These cover issues such as how Commission staff evaluate and verify experts’ self-declarations, how often conflicts of interest have been identified, if the Commission has guidance for when experts may be retained despite potential conflicts of interest, and how the Commission deals with alerts concerning conflicts of interest from outside sources.
The Ombudsman has asked the Commission to reply by 31 January 2024.
Background
Through the evaluation of research and development projects for defence technology and equipment, independent experts help the Commission decide which projects should receive financial backing from the EDF.
The EDF first came into being in January 2021 and has a budget of around EUR8 billion for the period 2021 to 2027.
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 18/03/2024 and registered on 18/03/2024 under the case number
2024/1488.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 11/04/2024. 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,
Please be informed that your initial request for access to documents
registered under reference 2024/1488 is a duplicate of 2024/1145.
Therefore, reference 2024/1488 has been closed in our database and you
will receive a reply for reference 2024/1145.
Kind regards,
Access to documents team - SG.C.1
Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,
I received a message today saying that my request 2024/1145 was closed down because I didn't send my address in time. This is why I filed another one. Does that mean the request 2024/1145 is now re-opened? Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Laura Kayali
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 Madam,
Thank you for your message.
Yes, indeed.
We confirm that your initial request for access to documents registered under reference 2024/1145 remains open but we closed reference 2024/1488 as it was a duplicate of the previous one (2024/1145).
Kind regards,
Access to documents team -c r
SG.C.1
Transparency