European Ombudsman welcomes texts ruling
The European Ombudsman has described an EU court judgment yesterday (14 May) as “important for the principles of transparency in EU decision-making”.
Teresa Anjinho was responding to a ruling by the EU’s General Court that annulled a European Commission decision refusing a journalist access to text messages exchanged between commission president Ursula von der Leyen and the chief executive of Pfizer.
“As text messages are regularly used as a form of communication by decision-makers, it is key that institutions ensure those messages are registered and retained as needed so that public-access requests can be dealt with properly and efficiently,” the ombudsman stated.
Anjinho noted that the court ruled that the way the commission dealt with the access request to the text messages breached the principle of good administration set out in article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
‘Register and retain’
“The ombudsman also notes that the court said the commission should have done much more to explain why such messages did not contain important information which would justify their registration and retention,” her statement continued.
The ombudsman said that the right of access to documents required that the institutions concerned should always draw up and retain documentation relating to their activities.
“If institutions fail to register and retain documentation relating to their activities, the right of access to documents is emptied of all meaning,” she stated.
The ombudsman concluded by saying that she expected the commission to “draw the necessary conclusions” from the judgment and ensure that the right of public access to documents could be given its full effect.