Minutes of some meetings of the Ad Hoc Working Party on the Multiannual Financial Framework (AHWP MFF
Dear Council of the European Union,
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:
the complete minutes of the meetings and related documents of the Ad Hoc Working Party on the Multiannual Financial Framework (AHWP MFF) in the following dates:
-8 September 2025
-3 October 2025
-8 October 2025
-13 October 2025
-17 October 2025
-27 October 2025
-10 November 2025
-19 November 2025
-26 November 2025
-7 January 2026
-15 January 2026
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Vespa
Your message has been received by the Transparency and Access to Documents Unit of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. All requests for access to documents are treated on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The General Secretariat will reply to your request within 15 working days upon registration of your request. Requests received before 5 PM on a working day are registered on the same day. Requests received after 5 PM are registered on the first following working day.
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L'unité "Transparence et accès aux documents" du Secrétariat général du Conseil de l'Union européenne a bien reçu votre message. Toutes les demandes d'accès à des documents sont traitées conformément au 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 l'enregistrement de celle-ci. Les demandes reçues les jours ouvrables avant 17 heures sont enregistrées le jour même. Les demandes reçues après 17 heures sont enregistrées le premier jour ouvrable suivant.
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Ihre Nachricht ist bei der Dienststelle "Transparenz und Zugang zu Dokumenten" des General-sekretariats des Rates der Europäischen Union eingegangen. Alle Anträge auf Zugang zu Dokumenten werden gemäß der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 vom 30. Mai 2001 über den Zugang der Öffentlichkeit zu Dokumenten des Europäischen Parlaments, des Rates und der Kommission bearbeitet. Das Generalsekretariat wird Ihnen binnen fünfzehn Arbeitstagen nach Registrierung Ihres Antrags eine Antwort übermitteln. Anträge, die an einem Arbeitstag vor 17.00 Uhr eingehen, werden noch am selben Tages registriert. Nach 17.00 Uhr eingehende Anträge werden am erstfolgenden Arbeitstag registriert.
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Den Text der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 finden Sie hier:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
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Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council
concerning your request for access to documents.
Yours sincerely,
Transparency
General Secretariat of the Council
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit / Transparency
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
www.consilium.europa.eu | [email address]
Dear ve_gsc-comm.2.c access to documents (GSC-COMM),
thank you very much for your reply, and we understand the request for more specific documents.
We would request the minutes of all the meetings mentioned, plus the following documents:
-From the 4 September 2025 meeting: Commission's presentations Correspondence and comparison tables, on Flexibility and on the Performance Monitoring Framework;
-From the 30 September 2025 meeting: Commission's presentations on Governance, including steering mechanism, and on NRP – Policy Reference Framework;
-From 6 October 2025 meeting: Commission's presentations on National Regional Partnership Plans – Policy Reference Framework, and on Simplification in National Regional Partnership Plans;
-From 9 October 2025 meeting: Commission's presentations on Repayment of NGEU, on Climate and social targets, and on National Regional Partnership Plans - Performance Monitoring Regulation;
-From 14 October 2025 meeting: Commission's presentations on Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and on Commitments and decommitments, and on Deflator;
-From 22 October 2025 meeting: Commission's presentation on EU Facility and Catalyst Europe;
-From 6 November 2025 meeting: Commission's presentation on Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights;
-From 18 November 2025 meeting: Commission's presentation on Crisis mechanism;
-From 21 November 2025 meeting: Commission's presentation on Co-financing;
-From , 19 December 2025 meeting: Commission's presentations on Combination of funding and on Co-financing: HOME affairs;
-From 12 January 2026 meeting: Commission's presentation on Allocation methodology for Interreg.
I hope it is clearer now.
Thank you for your collaboration.
Yours sincerely,
Matteo Vespa
Your message has been received by the Transparency and Access to Documents Unit of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. All requests for access to documents are treated on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The General Secretariat will reply to your request within 15 working days upon registration of your request. Requests received before 5 PM on a working day are registered on the same day. Requests received after 5 PM are registered on the first following working day.
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To see the text of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, please click here:
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L'unité "Transparence et accès aux documents" du Secrétariat général du Conseil de l'Union européenne a bien reçu votre message. Toutes les demandes d'accès à des documents sont traitées conformément au 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 l'enregistrement de celle-ci. Les demandes reçues les jours ouvrables avant 17 heures sont enregistrées le jour même. Les demandes reçues après 17 heures sont enregistrées le premier jour ouvrable suivant.
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Pour consulter le texte du règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001, cliquez ici:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
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Ihre Nachricht ist bei der Dienststelle "Transparenz und Zugang zu Dokumenten" des General-sekretariats des Rates der Europäischen Union eingegangen. Alle Anträge auf Zugang zu Dokumenten werden gemäß der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 vom 30. Mai 2001 über den Zugang der Öffentlichkeit zu Dokumenten des Europäischen Parlaments, des Rates und der Kommission bearbeitet. Das Generalsekretariat wird Ihnen binnen fünfzehn Arbeitstagen nach Registrierung Ihres Antrags eine Antwort übermitteln. Anträge, die an einem Arbeitstag vor 17.00 Uhr eingehen, werden noch am selben Tages registriert. Nach 17.00 Uhr eingehende Anträge werden am erstfolgenden Arbeitstag registriert.
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Den Text der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 finden Sie hier:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
Wenn sich der Link beim Anklicken nicht öffnet, kopieren Sie den bitte mit "copy/paste" in Ihren Browser.
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Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council
concerning your request for access to documents.
Yours sincerely,
Transparency and Access to Documents
General Secretariat of the Council
Communication and Document Management
Document Management
Transparency and Access to Documents
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
www.consilium.europa.eu | [email address]
Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely those of the writer and may not
be regarded as stating an official position of the Council of the EU
Clause de non-responsabilité: Les avis exprimés n'engagent que leur auteur
et ne peuvent être considérés comme une position officielle du Conseil de
l'UE
Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council
concerning your request for access to documents.
Yours sincerely,
Transparency
General Secretariat of the Council
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit / Transparency
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
www.consilium.europa.eu | [email address]
Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely those of the writer and may not
be regarded as stating an official position of the Council of the EU
Clause de non-responsabilité: Les avis exprimés n'engagent que leur auteur
et ne peuvent être considérés comme une position officielle du Conseil de
l'UE
Dear Council of the European Union,
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 'Minutes of some meetings of the Ad Hoc Working Party on the Multiannual Financial Framework (AHWP MFF').
The motivation given to withhold the publication of the requested documents is that "they concern the future financial framework of the Union. Disclosure of these technical documents, which may contain preliminary views or policy options not formally endorsed by the institutions, could lead to external pressure from interest groups or stakeholders, including those
from third countries. Their content risks being misinterpreted or taken out of context, a particular risk given the interconnected nature of the MFF legal instruments. This could in turn undermine the trust between institutions in the context of ongoing negotiations and thereby hamper the efficient conduct of those negotiations. The exceptions laid down in Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 apply as the public interest in accessing these particular documents does not outweigh the potential harm disclosure could cause to the decision-making process. The institution has mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability, including release of documents post-decision, allowing for public scrutiny at a stage where such access would not impede effective functioning of the Union’s decision-making processes."
Such motivation is not consistent with previous decisions of disclosure of similar documents:
-Documents regarding the MFF negotiations and policy options not formally endorsed by the institutions:
AHWP MFF 9th January 2026 Presidency Compromise proposal on NRP: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/mff_nrp...
Cultural Affairs Committee 13th January 2026 Presidency compromise text on AgoraEU: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/agoraeu...
-Commission presentations and comments (WK type documents) on a file that was still being discussed in the Council by the time of disclosure:
Commission presentation at the Company Law Working party of 16 May 2025 on the ECBA Directive: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/ecba_co...
Commission Replies to Member States’ questions transmitted to the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs on 3.03.2025: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/ecba_di...
The provided examples are just few of many: in the first batch of examples I provided evidence of disclosure of Council Presidency compromise proposals that are politically more sensitive than Commission's "technical documents". In the second batch of examples I provided evidence of disclosures of Commission's WK-type documents for a policy file still under discussion by the co-legislators by the time of their disclosure. Based on these precedents, the refusal of disclosure of the requested documents would be inconsistent and create a dangerous precedent in terms of unreliability in the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, which might count as maladministration.
The value of publication of such presentations remounts to a more in depth explanation of technically complex policy proposals, which is in the interest of the public to understand better before their final approval. We therefore ask you to reverse your decision and publish the identified documents.
Furthermore, we are surprised that no minutes of the meetings have been taken by the Council Presidency, considering that they produce progress reports by the end of their Council Presidency on the different files that they work on. Regardless of whether it is a way to avoid the production of documents that could be retrieved via a FOI request, also that seriously risks to be considered maladministration, as minutes are not only a matter of transparency of the discussions, but are also crucial preliminary documents that shape the content of latter Council policy proposals, and it is also in the interest of the Member States to ensure that their views (and the tone of the discussion) are correctly reported by the Council Presidency.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/minutes...
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Vespa
Your message has been received by the Transparency and Access to Documents Unit of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. All requests for access to documents are treated on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The General Secretariat will reply to your request within 15 working days upon registration of your request. Requests received before 5 PM on a working day are registered on the same day. Requests received after 5 PM are registered on the first following working day.
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L'unité "Transparence et accès aux documents" du Secrétariat général du Conseil de l'Union européenne a bien reçu votre message. Toutes les demandes d'accès à des documents sont traitées conformément au 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 l'enregistrement de celle-ci. Les demandes reçues les jours ouvrables avant 17 heures sont enregistrées le jour même. Les demandes reçues après 17 heures sont enregistrées le premier jour ouvrable suivant.
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S'il vous plaît ne répondez pas à ce message, car il a été envoyé d'une boîte aux lettres sans surveillance.
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Pour consulter le texte du règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001, cliquez ici:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
Si le lien ne s'ouvre pas lorsque vous cliquez dessus, veuillez copier-coller l'adresse dans votre navigateur.
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Ihre Nachricht ist bei der Dienststelle "Transparenz und Zugang zu Dokumenten" des General-sekretariats des Rates der Europäischen Union eingegangen. Alle Anträge auf Zugang zu Dokumenten werden gemäß der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 vom 30. Mai 2001 über den Zugang der Öffentlichkeit zu Dokumenten des Europäischen Parlaments, des Rates und der Kommission bearbeitet. Das Generalsekretariat wird Ihnen binnen fünfzehn Arbeitstagen nach Registrierung Ihres Antrags eine Antwort übermitteln. Anträge, die an einem Arbeitstag vor 17.00 Uhr eingehen, werden noch am selben Tages registriert. Nach 17.00 Uhr eingehende Anträge werden am erstfolgenden Arbeitstag registriert.
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Diese Nachricht wurde automatisch generiert. Bitte nicht antworten.
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Den Text der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 finden Sie hier:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
Wenn sich der Link beim Anklicken nicht öffnet, kopieren Sie den bitte mit "copy/paste" in Ihren Browser.
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Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council concerning your confirmatory application.
Yours sincerely,
Transparency
General Secretariat of the Council
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit / Transparency
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
www.consilium.europa.eu | [email address]
Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely those of the writer and may not be regarded as stating an official position of the Council of the EU
Clause de non-responsabilité: Les avis exprimés n'engagent que leur auteur et ne peuvent être considérés comme une position officielle du Conseil de l'UE
Dear Mr Vespa,
Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council, in reply to your confirmatory application for public access under Regulation 1049/2001.
Yours sincerely,
Transparency
General Secretariat of the Council
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit / Transparency
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
www.consilium.europa.eu | [email address]
Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely those of the writer and may not be regarded as stating an official position of the Council of the EU