Exchanges with EC on invitation of President Von der Leyen to Parliament

Alexander Fanta made this access to documents request to European Parliament Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was successful.

Dear European Parliament,

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:

- Any exchanges with the European Commission following a request from the Special Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic to invite Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to speak in front of the committee. (I note that the Conference of Presidents turned down a requst from COVI chair Van Brempt to invite Von der Leyen, but a Politico story notes that the Conference of Presidents "decided to ask von der Leyen to answer questions in private at some point in the future", see here: https://www.politico.eu/article/european...).

- Any exchanges within the parliament and with the European Commission on a invitation to the President of the Commission to the LIBE committee (originally scheduled for next week) and any exchange on the invitation of VP Jourova to LIBE for the autumn.

My quest is meant to cover letters, e-mails, memos, briefing notes, text messages and any other form of exchange or communication on these matters.

Yours faithfully,

Alexander Fanta
netzpolitik.org
Schönhauser Allee 6-7
10119 Berlin
Germany

European Parliament

Our reference: 2023-3029

Dear Mr Fanta,

The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your message, which
was registered on July 11, 2023.

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
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The European Parliament reserves the right to ask for additional
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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

European Parliament

Our reference: 2023-3029

Dear Mr Fanta,

Thank you for contacting the Transparency Unit of the European Parliament.

Further to your application under [1]Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, requesting public access to exchanges between the European
Commission and Parliament on the invitation to President Von der Leyen to
attend a hearing in Parliament presided by the COVI Committee and on the
invitation to President Von der Leyen and to VP Jourova to attend a
hearing in Parliament presided by the LIBE Committee, Parliament has
identified the following.

-         Two letters: one from the Chair of the COVI Committee MEP Van
Brempt to Parliament's President Metsola of 24 January 2023 (D 200250);
one reply from President Metsola of 1 March 2023 (D 200739), published on
Parliament's Public Register of Documents and available, after the
redaction of marginal personal data, at the following link:
[2]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreW....
They both concern the invitation to President Von der Leyen to attend a
COVI Committee hearing.

-         As complementary information to those two letters, please also
see the publicly available minutes of the CoP of 16 February 2023, point
4.4 on the issue, [3]here; and the COVI Committee minutes of 30 January
2023, include the decision taken by the Coordinators, under decision 4b
(see [4]here).

Moreover, please note that at the LIBE Committee Coordinators meeting of
28 February was discussed the issue to invite the Commission and the
European Ombudsman for an exchange of views on the rules of transparency
regarding access to documents of the European Commission. The Coordinators
agreed at that meeting to organise such an exchange of views. However,
after consulting the Conference of Presidents (CoP) on the matter, the
LIBE Secretariat was informed that the Commission's President can only
appear before either the Plenary or the CoP. Therefore, during the
Coordinators meeting of 29 June 2023, it was agreed to hold the exchange
of views with Commissioner Jourova instead. The Coordinators also agreed
that the Commission President will be present in the plenary debate
instead, during the discussion on the report on "public access to
documents – annual report for the years 2019-2021". However, the
invitation to VP Jourova has not been sent out yet. It should be sent
after the summer recess, in order to book a slot in the agenda of the LIBE
Committee.

On this basis, Parliament considers your application handled and the
procedure closed. Should you wish to submit any new requests for specific
Parliament documents, [5]please do not hesitate to come back to us.

Kind regards,

TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate-General for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[6][European Parliament request email]
[7]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb

References

Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
2. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreW...
3. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/o...
4. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/doc...
5. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreW...
6. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
7. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb