Request for access to documents concerning European Parliament delegation missions to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Eswatini
Dear Sir or Madam,
Under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, and in light of the principle of transparency laid down in Article 15(3) TFEU and Article 42 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, I hereby request access to all documents held by the European Parliament concerning the following European Parliament delegation missions:
the mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo / Kinshasa, which took place at the end of May 2025, including but not limited to the mission of 28-30 May 2025 involving Members of the European Parliament;
the mission to Eswatini / Mbabane in May 2026, in the context of the Africa-EU Parliamentary Assembly, involving Members of the European Parliament.
This request includes, but is not limited to, the following categories of documents:
mission programmes, agendas, briefing notes, preparatory notes, speaking points and background documents;
lists of participants, including MEPs, staff, political group staff, interpreters, assistants, officials, security staff or any other accompanying persons;
travel arrangements, including flight bookings, itineraries, boarding information, travel agency correspondence, transport invoices and internal travel approvals;
accommodation documents, including hotel bookings, invoices, contracts, rooming lists and correspondence with hotels or service providers;
expense claims, reimbursement requests, payment orders, mission expenses, daily allowances, per diems, travel allowances and any supporting documents submitted by MEPs or staff;
contracts, purchase orders, invoices and payment records relating to flights, hotels, local transport, catering, interpretation, security, meeting venues or other logistical services;
post-mission reports, evaluation documents, minutes, internal summaries, follow-up notes and any documents assessing the costs, conduct or outcome of the missions;
any documents concerning exceptions, derogations, refusals, corrections, irregularities or internal questions raised in relation to the costs, participants or organisation of these missions.
For the avoidance of doubt, this request covers both documents drawn up by the European Parliament and documents received by the European Parliament from third parties, insofar as they are held by the Parliament.
If some of the requested documents contain personal data or information considered sensitive, I ask that the European Parliament grant partial access under Article 4(6) of Regulation 1049/2001, with only the strictly necessary passages redacted. I also ask that each refusal or redaction be justified individually and specifically, with reference to the precise exception relied upon and an explanation of why disclosure would specifically and actually undermine the protected interest.
Given that the requested documents concern the use of public funds, official travel by elected representatives and the functioning of European Parliament delegations, there is a strong public interest in disclosure.
If the request is considered too broad, I ask the Parliament not to reject it outright but to assist me in narrowing it, in accordance with the duty of good administration. In that case, please first provide a list or inventory of the documents identified as falling within the scope of this request, including titles, dates, authors, recipients and document types.
I would prefer to receive the documents in electronic format. Where possible, please provide them in their original digital format, including PDFs, spreadsheets, invoices, booking records or correspondence files.
Postal address:
Knack / Roularta Media Group
Raketstraat 50 bus 2
1130 Brussel
Belgium
Yours faithfully,
Kamiel Vermeylen
Our reference: 2026-0332
Dear Mr Vermeylen,
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your message, which
was registered on July 8, 2026.
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: 2026-0332
Dear Mr Vermeylen,
The time limit for responding to your application for public access to
documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, as registered on July 8,
2026, expires today on July 30, 2026.
However, due to the large number and the variety of documents concerned by
your application, our consultations are involving several concerned
services and are taking more time than expected, so that 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: 2026-0332
Dear Mr Vermeylen,
We are currently processing your application for access to documents under
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, which pertains to all documents held by
Parliament concerning the mission to the Democratic Republic of
Congo/Kinshasa, which took place at the end of May 2025, including but not
limited to the mission of 28-30 May 2025 and the mission to
Eswatini/Mbabane in May 2026, in the context of the Africa-EU
Parliamentary Assembly.
The time limit of your application expires today. However, due to its very
broad scope and particularly granular description of documents sought,
alone carrying a preliminary search pursuant to your application has
required significant time and effort.
Based on our preliminary search conducted further to the scope of your
application, as described above, our assessment shows that due to its
broad and non-exhaustive character and the high degree of granularity of
the documents described, all documents falling in its scope, taken
together, would likely amount to several hundreds of documents and several
thousands of pages.
These documents would have to be individually and thoroughly assessed,
including in light of the relevant case-law, in order to determine which
parts may be covered by applicable exceptions under Article 4 of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, and in particular the protection of the
privacy and integrity of the individual. The identification and assessment
of documents, as described above, would therefore constitute an
exceptionally heavy, unreasonable workload for Parliament, amounting to an
excessive administrative burden, in line with the principle of
proportionality as recognised by the Court of Justice of the European
Union.
Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 provides that in the event of
an application relating to a very long document or to a very large number
of documents, the institution concerned may confer with the applicant
informally, with a view to finding a fair solution.
In essence, the documents requested by your application could be
summarised in the following categories:
(1) mission programmes, agendas;
(2) briefing notes, preparatory notes, speaking points and background
documents;
(3) lists of participants, including MEPs, staff, political group staff,
interpreters, assistants, officials, security staff or any other
accompanying persons;
(4) travel arrangements, including flight bookings, itineraries, boarding
information, travel agency correspondence, transport invoices and internal
travel approvals; payment records relating to flights, hotels,
accommodation documents, including hotel bookings, invoices, contracts,
rooming lists and correspondence with hotels or service providers; expense
claims, reimbursement requests, payment orders, mission expenses, daily
allowances, per diems, travel allowances and any supporting documents
submitted by MEPs or staff;
(5) contracts, purchase orders, invoices and payment records relating to
local transport, catering, interpretation, security, meeting venues or
other logistical services;
(6) post-mission reports, evaluation documents, minutes, internal
summaries, follow-up notes, and any documents assessing the costs, conduct
or outcome of the missions;
(7) any documents concerning exceptions, derogations, refusals,
corrections, irregularities or internal questions raised in relation to
the costs, participants or organisation of these missions;
(8) email exchanges and correspondence related to logistics, scheduling,
and the organisation of the missions.
In particular, in view of the broad range of documents sought under
category (4), which appears to encompass all documents and supporting
documentation relating to travel and accommodation arrangements of the
missions concerned, this category alone would amount to several hundreds
of pages, which, given their subject matter, would be intrinsically linked
to individuals and by their very nature would contain a large amount of
personal data, that has to be assessed and redacted, as applicable. Even
higher volume and workload would be required with respect to the
identification and assessment of category (8).
Therefore, pursuant to Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, we
propose that you narrow down the scope of your application by limiting it
to:
(1) one of the missions concerned of your choice; and
(2) documents falling under categories (1)-(3) and (5)-(7).
Please note that your agreement to reduce the scope of your application
would not preclude you from submitting new applications for excluded
documents once this one has been handled.
Please be as kind as to let us know whether you would agree to limit the
scope of your application by excluding categories (4) and (8) and indicate
a mission of your choice.
We thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Looking forward to your reply.
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 Transparency Unit,
Thank you for your message.
I understand the workload concerns raised under Article 6(3) of Regulation 1049/2001 and I am willing to substantially narrow the scope of my application.
For the time being, I would like to limit my request to the mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo/Kinshasa of 28–30 May 2025.
I am also willing to exclude category (2) and to substantially narrow categories (4) and (8).
I would like to maintain the following categories:
(1) Mission programmes and final agendas, including the meetings, visits and official engagements held during the mission.
(3) Final and provisional lists of participants and accompanying persons, including MEPs, Parliament staff, political group staff and any other persons included in the travel or accommodation arrangements.
In addition, I request any available lists, attendance records or other documents identifying all persons present on the European side at meetings, visits and official engagements during the mission, including persons who participated in individual meetings without formally being part of the travelling delegation.
(4) Documents showing the final travel and accommodation arrangements and the corresponding costs, including:
flight and other transport bookings;
final itineraries;
hotel bookings and rooming lists;
invoices relating to travel and accommodation;
expense claims, reimbursement requests and payment records;
documents showing which travel and accommodation costs were borne or reimbursed by Parliament.
I do not require boarding passes, passport details, bank account details, telephone numbers or other sensitive personal data that are not necessary to understand the travel arrangements and expenditure.
(5) Contracts, invoices and payment records relating to accommodation, local transport and other logistical services insofar as they make it possible to identify the persons covered by those services and the costs involved.
(6) Final post-mission reports and final internal summaries. Drafts and preparatory versions may be excluded.
(7) Documents concerning exceptions, derogations, corrections, irregularities or internal questions relating to participants, travel, accommodation or mission expenditure.
(8) Only correspondence concerning:
changes to the composition of the delegation or accompanying persons;
persons attending individual meetings, visits or official engagements;
travel and accommodation arrangements;
room allocations;
eligibility, reimbursement or payment of travel and accommodation costs;
exceptions, corrections or questions concerning those arrangements or costs.
Routine logistical correspondence that merely confirms schedules, transfers or other practical arrangements may be excluded.
I hope that limiting the application to one mission and substantially reducing the scope of categories (4) and (8) provides a workable fair solution under Article 6(3).
For the avoidance of doubt, this narrowing of scope is without prejudice to my right to submit subsequent applications concerning the excluded documents or the Eswatini mission.
Kind regards,
Kamiel Vermeylen