Answer given by Vice-President Jourová on behalf of the European Commission
27.11.2020
The Commission receives questions from journalists through numerous channels, including over the phone, in face-to-face meetings, during the daily midday press briefings, press conferences, technical and background briefings and interviews. Questions are addressed to Commissioners, spokespersons, heads of representations and the communication units. Hence, thousands of questions are answered every year, but the Commission does not keep a tally, as this is impossible.
The Commission remains by far the EU institution handling the largest number of requests for access to documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001[1]. In 2019, the requested documents were fully or partially disclosed in almost 78% of the 7 445 cases at the initial stage, and wider or even full access was granted in 53.4% of the 296 cases reviewed at the confirmatory stage. In 2019, 8.1% of the initial applications and 11.1% of the confirmatory applications originated from journalists[2].
Confirmatory requests are dealt with by the Secretariat-General of the Commission to ensure an independent administrative review of the reply given at the initial stage.
As regards the second question, if a reference is made to the Council’s Working Party on Information, the Commission does not hold any information and/or data concerning the activities of that Working Party, which is a preparatory body of the Council.
If the application for access concerns a document originating from a Member State, the Commission consults the authorities of the Member State concerned under the provision of Article 4(4) and 4(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. However, the Commission does not collect any data as regards the time needed for the Member States to respond to the consultation.
- [1] Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
- [2] For more information and statistics, please see the 2019 Annual Report on Access to Documents of the European Commission published on Europa website: https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/reports-public-access-european-parliament-council-and-commission-documents_en