Rwanda Memorandum of Understanding & European Peace Facility
Dear European External Action Service,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain information about the following topics:
1. The Memorandum of Understanding on Sustainable Raw Materials Value Chains between the EU and Rwanda
2. The European Peace Facility’s support to the Rwandan Defence Force in Mozambique
I am requesting all internal and external documents – including but not limited to, working documents, working papers, memos, notes, reviews, et cetera – that contain information about the above topics.
I am also requesting all correspondence that contains information about the above topics – including but not limited to, text messages, emails, attachments, letters, minutes of meetings, preparations of meetings, and documents exchanged during meetings – exchanged between (representatives of) the EEAS, both internally within the organisation and externally with other (representatives of) EU bodies including but not limited to Member States, the European Council, the Secretary General, the President of the EU Commission, EU Commissioners, DG-INPA, DG-GROW, DG-ENV and others.
Should my requests be denied wholly or partially, please explain the denial or all deletions referring to specific exemptions in the regulation. Also I expect the partial release of documents, in case of partial exemption according to article 4.6.
Do not hesitate to get back to me should you need any further information which could facilitate your research.
Thank you for your assistance.
Best regards,
Tim Luimes
Journalist
Dear Mr Luimes,
This message is an acknowledgement of receipt for your request for access to documents, which was registered on 12 June 2025, under Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, which the EEAS is also respecting.
Your request for access to documents has been registered under reference number: 2025/096.
Please refer to this number in any further correspondence.
In accordance with the Regulation, you will receive a reply within 15 working days. Please note that the calculation of the deadline takes into account the public holidays followed by the EU institutions and not those of individual countries.
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. Please consult the Privacy Statement for further related information.
The European External Action Service reserves the right to ask for additional information regarding our identity in order to verify compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the EEAS’s implementing measures.
Yours sincerely,
EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG.LD.ATD
Dear Mr Luimes,
We are referring to your request for public access below submitted to the EEAS and registered under reference 2025/096.
Your request concerns
“documents which contain information about the following topics:
1. The Memorandum of Understanding on Sustainable Raw Materials Value Chains between the EU and Rwanda
2. The European Peace Facility’s support to the Rwandan Defence Force in Mozambique
All internal and external documents – including but not limited to, working documents, working papers, memos, notes, reviews, et cetera – that contain information about the above topics.
All correspondence that contains information about the above topics – including but not limited to, text messages, emails, attachments, letters, minutes of meetings, preparations of meetings, and documents exchanged during meetings – exchanged between (representatives of) the EEAS, both internally within the organisation and externally with other (representatives of) EU bodies including but not limited to Member States, the European Council, the Secretary General, the President of the EU Commission, EU Commissioners, DG-INPA, DG-GROW, DG-ENV and others.”
We would be grateful if you could indicate the timeframe during which the documents would have been drawn up, for instance from 1 January 2025 to 20 June 2025.
Concerning the second point of your request please note that as currently formulated it is very broad and would lead to the identification of an excessive number of documents to be assessed by the institution with a view of taking a decision on granting public access to them. We wish to clarify that requests for access to documents under Regulation 1049/2001 shall be targeted to specific documents that can be clearly identified. Requests should also be limited in their scope and proportionate.
We therefore kindly invite you to clarify and limit the scope of your request in line with Articles 6(2) and 6(3) of the Regulation. We would appreciate if you could narrow down the application e.g. to the specific topics of interest in the matter, the types of documents and the specific recipients.
We will make every effort to process your request as quickly as possible. Please note that the time-frame necessary to process your request will depend on the number of documents identified and therefore to be examined.
We look forward to hearing from you with regard to the above with the view to being able to further process your request.
Yours sincerely,
EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG.LD.ATD
Dear EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS,
Thank you for your response. Of course, I would be glad to specify my request.
As for point 1, the period I am requesting documents is from 1st of January 2020 onwards.
As for point 2, the period I am requesting documentsis from 1st of January 2024 onwards.
On point 2, I am specifically looking for all documents a) around the decision whether to support the RPF in Mozambique, which was decided in November 2024, b) the conditions for that support, c) the alleged relation between Rwanda and M23, d) the Total project in Mozambique
I hope this is clear enough, please don’t hesitate to reach out for additional questions.
Yours sincerely,
Tim Luimes
Dear Mr Luimes,
We thank you for the below message in which you limited the scope of your
request.
Despite that, as regards point 1 of your request, the search of documents
performed on that basis resulted in an excessive number of documents to be
assessed by the EEAS in order to establish whether public access in line
with the conditions of Regulation 1049/2001 can be granted.
To balance your interest in receiving a reply to your request in a
reasonable time and the interest of the institution as regards the
efficient use of its resources, we propose a fair solution for the
handling of your request in line with Article 6(3) of the Regulation.
Please find below a table indicating the date and document type for the 61
documents identified in the context of your request. We invite you to
select a maximum number of 15 documents that the institution will analyse
with a view of establishing whether public access can be granted.
Yours sincerely,
EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[1][EEAS request email]
SG.LD.ATD
Doc CATEGORY Date
no
1. Document of 14/03/2023
the Council of
the EU
(working
group)
2. Document of 13/06/2023
the Council of
the EU
(working
group)
3. EUDEL report 05/12/2023
4. EUDEL report 05/12/2023
5. EUDEL report 28/12/2023
6. EUDEL report 11/01/2024
7. EUDEL report 12/01/2024
8. EUDEL report 15/01/2024
9. EUDEL report 30/01/2024
10. Meeting report 12/02/2024
11. HoMs report 14/02/2024
12. Communications 16/02/2024
13. Meeting report 21/02/2024
14. Meeting report 21/02/2024
15. Communications 23/02/2024
16. Meeting report 27/02/2024
17. Meeting report 14/03/2024
18. EUDEL report 22/03/2024
19. EUDEL report 22/03/2024
20. Meeting report 10/04/2024
21. HoMs report 26/04/2024
22. EUDEL report 21/05/2024
23. HoMs report 05/06/2024
24. Correspondence 21/06/2024
25. EUDEL report 27/06/2024
26. HoMs report 10/07/2024
27. Document of 17/07/2024
the Council of
the EU
(working
group)
28. Correspondence 22/07/2024
29. Meeting report 25/07/2024
30. Meeting report 26/07/2024
31. EUDEL report 29/07/2024
32. Documents of 25/09/2024
the Council of
the EU working
groups
33. EUDEL report 18/09/2024
34. Meeting report 07/10/2024
35. Meeting report 14/10/2024
36. Meeting report 24/10/24
37. EUDEL report 25/10/2024
38. EUDEL report 15/11/2024
39. EUDEL report 10/12/2024
40. Communications 17/12/2024
41. EUDEL report 19/12/2024
42. Meeting report 14/01/2025
43. Document of 27/01/2025
the Council of
the EU
44. Document of 31/01/2025
the Council of
the EU
(working
group)
45. EUDEL report 04/02/2025
46. Documents of 05/02/2025
the Council of
the EU
(working
group)
47. EUDEL report 06/02/2025
48. Documents of 07/02/2025
the Council of
the EU
(working
group)
49. Document of 11/02/2025
the Council of
the EU PSC
50. Internal 14/02/2025
document
51. Correspondence 23/02/2025
52. EUDEL report 25/02/2025
53. Communications 24/02/2025
54. Meeting 01/03/2025
reports
55. EUDEL report 10/03/2025
56. European 14/03/2025
Parliament
question and
reply
57. Correspondence 14/03/2025
58. EUDEL report 19/03/2025
59. European 19/03/2025
Parliament
question and
reply
60. EUDEL report 20/03/2025
61. EUDEL report 24/06/2025
Dear Mr Luimes,
On behalf of Mr Seppo Nurmi please find attached the reply to your request
for access to documents.
Yours sincerely,
EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[1][EEAS request email]
SG.LD.ATD
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[EEAS request email]