Open letter from Access regarding document acquired through freedom of information request 5 messages

Transcription

1 Estelle Masse Open letter from Access regarding document acquired through freedom of information request 5 messages Estelle Masse <estelle@accessnow.org> To: cecilia.malmstrom@ec.europa.eu, Maria.Asenius@ec.europa.eu Cc: Raegan MacDonald <raegan@accessnow.org> Tue, Sep 30, 2014 at 12:06 PM Following the hearing that took place yesterday in the International Trade Committee of the European Parliament, please find attached an open letter from Access, seeking clarifications on your answers regarding the document legally acquired through a freedom of information request. -- Estelle Massé Junior Policy Analyst Access accessnow.org 20 Rue Belliard 1040 Bruxelles PGP ID: 0x7A755A5F Fingerprint AA1D DF94 B562 C4DB 7C8C 182B 9610 B746 7A75 5A5F Support Access! Open letter to Commissioner Malmström.pdf 73K Cecilia.MALMSTROM@ec.europa.eu <Cecilia.MALMSTROM@ec.europa.eu> To: estelle@accessnow.org Cc: raegan@accessnow.org, CAB-MALMSTROM-ARCHIVES@ec.europa.eu Tue, Sep 30, 2014 at 4:53 PM Dear Madame Estelle Massé,

2 I have not been aware of the origin of the itself until yesterday evening. Before that, the only information I had about its existence came from a journalist request. To be specific, a journalist from Der Spiegel sent me few lines from the message, defining it as an correspondence of the U.S. Department of Commerce from 12 January 2012, of which he had a copy. So, when replying to his questions and to MEPs' questions during the hearing yesterday, the full origin of the mail was still unclear to me, hence my reference to it as a leaked document. Only after the hearing the origins of the became clear to me through media reports. It has never been my intention to put into question the validity of the and I have never accused anyone, be it your organisation or the US Department of Commerce, of having falsified any document. Please note that I have been a proponent for increased transparency in public institutions throughout my political career. In the country I know best, Sweden, public authorities are traditionally far more open when it comes to access to documents that what EU institutions have been. I strongly believe that EU bodies can increase their transparency in many ways. As a Member of the European Parliament, I was a rapporteur for the 1049/2001 regulation on public access to documents, pursuing negotiations with the Council and the Commission for increasing transparency. On a side note, I also believe much can be done to strengthen transparency further around EU trade negotiations, something I intend to pursue as Commissioner for Trade. Best regards, Cecilia Malmström Estelle Masse <estelle@accessnow.org> Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 6:45 PM To: Cecilia.MALMSTROM@ec.europa.eu Cc: Raegan MacDonald <raegan@accessnow.org>, CAB-MALMSTROM-ARCHIVES@ec.europa.eu Thank you very much for your . Access welcomes the fact that you have now recognised the authenticity of the document we acquired through a freedom of information request, and you no longer put into question the validity of the as stated in the private you sent in response to our open letter.

3 We were however surprised to find out that, only after the hearing the origins of the became clear to [you] through media reports. MEP Franziska Keller clearly stated in her second question to you during Monday s hearing that the in question came from a freedom of information request. In any case, now that the question of the validity of the is no longer an issue, we would very much appreciate if you could provide explanations regarding its content: Did you, or a member of your cabinet at DG Home, ever contact the US administration in order to share concerns and/or information regarding the data protection reform? If not, have you launched or will you launch an investigation, within your past and current members of cabinet at DG Home, to ensure that no one provided information to the US administration on that matter, as indicated by the ? If not, why not? In your , you mentioned the work undertook as Member of the European Parliament in order to improve transparency in the European Institutions. We greatly appreciate those efforts and your commitment for greater transparency in the TTIP negotiations. In that spirit, we would like to make your previous and upcoming s available to the public. -- Estelle Massé Junior Policy Analyst Access accessnow.org 20 Rue Belliard 1040 Bruxelles PGP ID: 0x7A755A5F Fingerprint AA1D DF94 B562 C4DB 7C8C 182B 9610 B746 7A75 5A5F Support Access! Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 11:58 Michele.CERCONE@ec.europa.eu <Michele.CERCONE@ec.europa.eu> AM To: estelle@accessnow.org Cc: raegan@accessnow.org, Cecilia.MALMSTROM@ec.europa.eu, Maria.ASENIUS@ec.europa.eu Dear Madame Massé,

4 As for comments on the content of the , Commissioner Malmström has already addressed a clarification letter to MEP Lange. The letter was immediately made publicly available on the Commissioner's website and you can find it at the following link: ange.pdf As for your request to publish this correspondence, please feel free to do so as you wish. We have published our reply on our website: pdf Best regards Michele Cercone Begin forwarded message: From: Estelle Masse <estelle@accessnow.org> Date: 2 oktober :45:35 CEST To: <Cecilia.MALMSTROM@ec.europa.eu> Cc: Raegan MacDonald <raegan@accessnow.org>, <CAB-MALMSTROM-ARCHIVES@ec.europa.eu> Subject: Re: FW: Open letter from Access regarding document acquired through freedom of information request Thank you very much for your . Access welcomes the fact that you have now recognised the authenticity of the document we acquired through a freedom of information request, and you no longer put into question the validity of the as stated in the private you sent in response to our open letter. We were however surprised to find out that, only after the hearing the origins of the became clear to [you] through media reports. MEP Franziska Keller clearly stated in her second question to you during Monday s hearing that the in question came from a freedom of information request. In any case, now that the question of the validity of the is no longer an issue, we would very much appreciate if you could provide explanations regarding its content: Did you, or a member of your cabinet at DG Home, ever contact the US administration in order to share concerns and/or information regarding the data protection reform? If not, have you launched or will you launch an investigation, within your past and current members of cabinet at DG Home, to ensure that no one provided information to the US administration on that matter, as indicated by the ? If not, why not?

5 In your , you mentioned the work undertook as Member of the European Parliament in order to improve transparency in the European Institutions. We greatly appreciate those efforts and your commitment for greater transparency in the TTIP negotiations. In that spirit, we would like to make your previous and upcoming s available to the public.