Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The EU watchdog has asked the European Commission to urgently deal with the systemic delays in its handling of access to document requests.
The EU Ombudsman noted that a “fundamental rethink” is necessary in order to guarantee that the deadlines set out in the EU transparency regulation are respected.
An internal investigation from the body led by Irish-born European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly found that requests made to the Commission to review its initial access decision — to either refuse or grant partial access to the requested documents — were late in 85% of cases under transparency law deadlines. Over 60% of such review decisions took more than 60 working days, despite a maximum time limit of 30 working days.
The Ombudsman acknowledged the increasing number and complexity of requests — over 8000 in 2021 — that the Commission is handling, with requesters pursuing fewer than 10% of negative decisions.
Public interest
However, the Ombudsman’s experience with handling complaints about access to documents is that long delays frequently occur in cases that are of significant public interest.
By delaying access to official documents, the Ombudsman said, the EU executive hopes that the information sought may no longer be useful for research or journalistic purposes. Moreover, the delays may also prevent citizens from having their say at relevant times in decision-making.
For example, a journalist received documents concerning the Commission’s purchase of below-standard medical masks nearly two years after the initial request, while an access request concerning a work-related trip by a Commissioner took the Commission a total of 14 months to deal with.
Von der Leyen and Pfizer
The Irish Ombudsman also criticised the Commission for not releasing texts between President Ursula Von der Leyen and the CEO of pharmaceutical company Pfizer, stressing that the controversy keeps feeding the narrative of eurosceptics and anti-vaxxers.
Addressing Teachtaí Dála (TDs) and senators at the Oireachtas Committee on Public Petitions on March 22, O’Reilly said the issue of texts between Von der Leyen and Pfizer arose when “a journalist turned to my office after the commission refused to give access to text messages sent between its president and the CEO of the Pfizer pharmaceutical company concerning the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines”, according to The Irish Times.
O’Reilly explained the EU’s access to documents law— otherwise known as freedom of information – openly states that it is the content and not the medium that counts when it comes to considering what constitutes an EU document.
“However, my inquiry showed that the Commission does not consider text messages to be documents so it does not record them,” she added.
‘Maladministration’
Overall, the Ombudsman’s inquiry found that the systemic and significant delays in dealing with access requests amounted to maladministration.
Noting that “access delayed is access denied”, the Ombudsman’s findings also refer to the possibility that the lengthy delays may deter people from making access to document requests.
The Commission was urged to dedicate more resources to deal with confirmatory requests, engage constructively and openly with people requesting documents, and anticipate public-interest topics so it can be proactively transparent.
The findings noted that these proposals will only go so far in reducing the delays as “a more fundamental change is required on the part of the Commission”, the EU Ombudsman concluded.
