Dear European Parliament,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I wish to request any document connected with searches of criminal investigators in the offices of MEP Maximilian Krah in Max 2024. Such searches took place on May 7 2024 on European Parliament premises in Brussels, and on May 29 2024 in Brussels and Strasbourg.
I note that the Belgian police forces cannot enter the buildings of the Parliament unless requested by the President of the Parliament. My request is meant to cover the requests for both searches, as well as any other documents related to the requests, such as formal protest notes, responses from criminal investigators, internal memos regarding the legality of the searches, etc.
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Fanta
Follow the Money
Rue Auguste Orts 2
1000 Bruxelles
Our reference: 2025-0037
Dear Mr. Fanta ,
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your message, which
was registered on January 22, 2025.
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: 2025-0037
Dear Mr Fanta,
The time limit for responding to your application for public access to
documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, as registered on Jan 22,
2025, expires tomorrow, on Feb 12, 2025.
However, since our assessment and consultations are taking more time than
expected, Parliament must exceptionally extend the time limit provided by
Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 by a further 15 working days
in accordance with Article 7(3) of that Regulation in order to reply to
your application.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. We thank you for your
understanding.
Best 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
Our reference: 2025-0037
Dear Mr. Fanta,
The time limit for responding to your application for public access to
documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, as registered on Jan 22,
2025, expires today, on Mar 5, 2025.
However, the decision concerning your application is still being prepared
and will be sent to you by post without delay once finalised.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. We thank you for your
understanding.
Best 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
Dear European Parliament,
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 'Krah searches'. In your letter from 6 March 2025, you give no details about the documents covered by my request, and argue that they are covered in their entirety by the investigations exception. The reply argues that Parliament needs to safeguard the ongoing criminal investigations, which public disclosure would jeopardise.
I argue that Parliament has not state clearly, in a concrete and non-hypothetical way how disclosure would negatively affect the ongoing criminal investigations. Indeed, the fact that they are ongoing is well known and confirmed by the authorities in question. Therefore it is hard to see exactly why the documents should be covered in their entirety.
Furthermore, Article 4 (4.) of the Regulation states that as regards third-party documents, the institution shall consult the third party with a view to assessing whether an exception in paragraph 1 or 2 is applicable, unless it is clear that the document shall or shall not be disclosed. I wonder whether this has happened in this case? If not, please state a clear reason.
Additionally, I would like to argue for an overriding public interest in disclosure. Mr. Krah is a public figure of high profile, and was recently elected to the German parliament despite being under investigation. Salient facts about ongoing judicial investigations which might regard him and his assistant should not be above public scrutiny, or indeed the German and European public would be deprived of them as basis for political judgement.
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Fanta
Our reference: 2025-0037
Dear Mr. Fanta,
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your confirmatory
application, which was registered on March 17, 2025.
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: 2025-0037C
Dear Mr. Fanta,
The time limit for responding to your confirmatory application for public
access to documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, as registered on
March 17th, 2025, expires tomorrow, on April 7th, 2025.
However, since our consultations are taking more time than expected,
Parliament must exceptionally extend the time limit provided by Article
8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 by a further 15 working days in
accordance with Article 8(2) of that Regulation in order to reply to your
application.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. We thank you for your
understanding.
Best 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
Dear European Parliament,
I believe you sent a reply to my request regarding the Krah documents by post. Could you also forward an electronic copy by email?
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Fanta
Dear Mr Fanta,
Thank you for your message.
Based on the information at our disposal, Parliament's response to your
request with reference 2025-0037C was delivered by post on Friday, 2 May
2025 at the address you provided. Please find attached, as requested, a
PDF copy of that response.
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