Classified status of documentation concerning the European Medicines Agency
5.2.2018
Question for written answer P-000682-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Patrizia Toia (S&D)
It is surprising to note that the file concerning Amsterdam’s bid has been given classified status at the request of the Netherlands.
The Commission was supposed to provide Member States with the information necessary to be able to take an informed decision and found the Netherlands’ statements concerning the delivery of the final premises by April 2019, to be reliable, without conducting the appropriate checks, to the detriment of a fully informed technical assessment regarding the choice made by the Council.
The Council decision took place behind closed doors, through the drawing of lots, without any safeguards or transparency. In addition, to classify parts of the application file runs counter to the principles relating to procedural safeguards and transparency of the substance of institutional activities, giving rise to an objective disparity between the bids.
Parliament, under the codecision procedure, has the right and duty to gain access to the documentation.
Can the Commission therefore say:
- —On what legal basis it decided, with its Secretary-General, to accept the request to classify part of the file;
- —Whether it believes that Parliament should have access to the documentation in order to be able to take an informed decision and whether it still considers the technical assessment provided before the award to be valid;
- —Whether it has any estimate of the cost to the EU budget for the additional expenditure relating to the unavailability of suitable headquarters?