Meeting with Tony Blair Institute on 20/03/2024
Alexander Fanta made this access to documents request to Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations 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.
Dear Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations,
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:
- All documents related to the meeting with the Tony Blair Institute on 20/03/2024. This is meant to include e-mails, meeting minutes, briefing notes and any other document. As former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin has been named as representative of the Tony Blair Institute, and she is a public figure, I ask not to redact her name on the documents.
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Fanta
Follow the Money
Rue Auguste Orts 2
1000 Bruxelles
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 02/04/2024 and registered on 03/04/2024 under the case number
2024/1843.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 24/04/2024. 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,
Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations -
Access to Documents
European Commission
References
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1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Mr Fanta,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 3 April 2024 under case number EASE 2024/1843.
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 24 April 2024, due to further internal
consultations.
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 17 May 2024.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
NEAR ACCDOC Team
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Mr Fanta,
We are referring to your request for access to documents registered under
reference number EASE 2024/1843.
This is to let you know that are still working on your reply. We will
provide you with updates on the status of your request on a regular basis.
Thank you for your understanding.
Yours sincerely,
NEAR ACCDOC Team
Dear Sir,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/1843.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
NEAR ACCDOC Team
Dear Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations,
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 'Meeting with Tony Blair Institute on 20/03/2024'.
I would like to object to access being withheld to the two briefing documents in question. DG Near refused access on the grounds that the documents contain "internal considerations, reflections, and views of the Commission services on issues related to sensitive aspects of the international relations between the European Union, Ukraine and Moldova." But DG NEAR did not make any specific argument on why their disclosure would undermine international relations or public security. In this regard, I would like to point to the case law in Besselink v Council. There, the General Court found that disclosing positions already known by negotiating partners, drafted before any actual negotiation took place, can also not reasonably be said to undermine the EU’s international relations. I ask the Commission to clarify whether the briefing papers contain positions not known to the public, and their disclosure could be said to cause harm in a non-hypothetical way. I ask to give widest possible access to those that do not. I also would like the Commission to search again for minutes of the meeting, as I believe my request should have covered them. I find it hard to believe that no record of the meeting was kept.
As regards the redaction of personal data of representatives of the Tony Blair Institute, I would like to point to a recent finding of the European Ombudsman in case 158/2024/MIG. “The Ombudsman is of the view that lobbying activities should be transparent, as this enables citizens to understand who or what interest informed a decision and to participate themselves in that decision-making as part of exercising their democratic rights. [...] Interest representatives meeting with an EU institution should therefore not expect that this activity would remain secret. In other words, the Ombudsman finds it questionable whether, generally, a person lobbying an EU institution can legitimately expect that this activity will not be made transparent.” I believe that, in this case, we are dealing with the personal data of lobbyists, who should have no expectation of privacy in regard to their lobbying activities. (Why, otherwise, would it be reasonable for the European Parliament to keep a public register of lobbyists?)
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Fanta
Follow the Money
Rue Auguste Orts 2
1000 Bruxelles
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2024/1843, sent on 17/06/2024 and registered on 17/06/2024.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 08/07/2024. 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
Dear Mr Fanta,
We are writing concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case EASE 2024/1843 registered on 17/06/2024.
We are currently working on your confirmatory request. However, we have
not yet been able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full
analysis of your request. Due to the need to conduct internal
consultations, we will not be able to send you the reply within the
prescribed time limit expiring on 08/07/2024.
Therefore, in line with Article 8(2) 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 29/07/2024.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
SG C.1 - Access to documents team
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear FANTA, Alexander ,
Please find attached the electronic version of European Commission
Decision C(2025)1746 as adopted by the European Commission on 16/03/2025
concerning the request 2024/1843.
In accordance with the Terms and Conditions of this portal, please note
that this decision is being formally notified pursuant to article 297 TFEU
through this electronic platform only.
Yours sincerely,
European Commission
SG C1 - Access to Documents