Acceso usuarios
Sam Wrigley, Daniel Wyatt
In the case of Psara (T-639/15 to T-666/15 and T-94/16) EU:T:2018:602, the General Court found that MEP expense reports contained personal data and so could only be disclosed if the applicants showed they were necessary for a sufficiently specific reason, beyond general purposes of transparency or suspicion. While, of course, public officials do not give up their personal rights once they enter into public office, a certain amount of transparency is both desirable and inevitable for people in such roles. This article explores the problems that might arise from the over-protection of EU officials in this way, before discussing the implications of Regulation 2018/1725, which governs the EU’s processing of personal data, and concluding that it was a missed opportunity to address these issues. Finally, the article explores Regulation 1049/2001, governing access to documents, and offers an interpretation of this law which may help to avoid the problems identified.
