Transparency in the Council
Dear Council of the EU,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents including:
- the questionnaire to member states' delegations on Council legislative transparency from Autumn 2018
- all member states' delegations' responses to the questionnaire
- all minutes from Council meetings which discuss Council legislative transparency in the past 2 years
- all discussion or other papers from the General Secretariat or member states' delegations which discuss Council legislative transparency in the past 2 years
Yours faithfully,
Vicky Cann
CEO
Rue d'Edimbourg 26
1050 Brx
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...
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
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CFD3F6.0B583760
Council of the European Union
General Secretariat
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
[2]www.consilium.europa.eu | [3][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
References
Visible links
2. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/
3. mailto:[email address]
Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council
concerning your request for access to documents.
Yours sincerely,
Transparency
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CFD3F6.0B583760
Council of the European Union
General Secretariat
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
[2]www.consilium.europa.eu | [3][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
References
Visible links
2. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/
3. mailto:[email address]
Dear Council of the EU,
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 'Transparency in the Council'.
Thank you for releasing a number of the requested documents. However, I would still like to receive:
- comments received by the Member States and notably their replies to the Legislative transparency questionnaire
- the full GSC internal note of 4 September 2018 on current practice on access to documents at the General Secretariat of the Council
- the table on legislative transparency
- document on GSC replies to the questions contained in the written comments of MS
My arguments are as follows:
- Matters pertaining to lobby transparency, access to documents, transparency of decision-making are very relevant and there is a significant public interest in them. I note Article 10 of the Lisbon Treaty which says: “Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union. Decisions shall be taken as openly and as closely as possible to the citizen.”
- It seems that my request is very similar to Case 280/11 P – 17/10/2013, AccessInfo Europe vs. the Council of the EU and I wondered why you had not applied the Court's ruling in my case. Afterall, the Court did not accept the Council’s argument for withholding access to negotiating positions (“it makes it harder to reach compromise”). I ask you to reconsider your response to my request in the light of that Court ruling.
- With regard to the note “GCS internal note of 4 September 2018” and “Table on legislative transparency in two versions”, given the document titles and their descriptions, one is led to assume that these documents particularly offer an insight into existing policy practices. Why disclosure of information concerning existing policy practices would specifically, actually and seriously undermine the decision-making process is unclear. It partiuclarly is not clear why the public is to be denied the right to know how the Council precisely implements its transparency duty to provide access to documents.
- With regard to the document “GSC replies to the questions contained in the written comments of MS”, there is a rather similar policy precedent where such answers to a survey were in fact made public while the negotiations were still ongoing (namely, in 2008/2009, on the revision of Regulation 1049/01). It is not clear why release cannot go ahead in this case.
- With regard to the non-disclosure of legal advice, it is not credibly explained why partial access would not be possible. Moreover, the jurisprudence concerning legal advice in non-legislative decision making is somewhat open-ended. The Court held in In ‘t Veld that legal advice in non-legislative decision making cannot a priori be excluded from the scope of the access to documents rules, and could in some situations pertain to decision-making procedures with a semi-legislative character (such as trade agreements).
- Finally, I note that all of these documents concern a non-legislative decision-making process.
I trust that you will reconsider my request in the light of these arguments and release the requested documents.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tran...
Thank you in advance.
Yours faithfully,
Vicky Cann
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.
***
This notification was sent from an unattended mailbox. Please do not reply.
***
To see the text of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, please click here:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexU...
If the link doesn't open when you click on it, please copy - paste it into your browser.
***
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.
***
S'il vous plaît ne répondez pas à ce message, car il a été envoyé d'une boîte aux lettres sans surveillance.
***
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.
***
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.
***
Diese Nachricht wurde automatisch generiert. Bitte nicht antworten.
***
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.
***
Dear Ms Cann,
Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council
extending the time limit for the Council to reply to your confirmatory
application for public access under Regulation 1049/2001.
Yours sincerely,
Transparency
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CFD3F6.0B583760
Council of the European Union
General Secretariat
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
[2]www.consilium.europa.eu | [3][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
References
Visible links
2. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/
3. mailto:[email address]
Dear Ms Cann,
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
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CFD3F6.0B583760
Council of the European Union
General Secretariat
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
[2]www.consilium.europa.eu | [3][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
References
Visible links
2. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/
3. mailto:[email address]
Dear Ms Cann,
We encountered some technical problems while converting the Word document
into PDF, thus a table is not visible in that format. Please accept our
apologies for the inconvenience.
We also attach the Word version for the document.
Yours sincerely,
Transparency
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CFD3F6.0B583760
Council of the European Union
General Secretariat
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
[2]www.consilium.europa.eu | [3][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 Ms Cann,
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
[4]cid:image001.jpg@01CFD3F6.0B583760
Council of the European Union
General Secretariat
Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM
Directorate Information and Outreach
Information Services Unit
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België
[5]www.consilium.europa.eu | [6][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
References
Visible links
2. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/
3. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/
6. mailto:[email address]
Vicky Cann left an annotation ()
This is an extremely disappointing reply as key documents detailing the member states positions on legislative transparency have not been made available.