Ref. Ares(2019)2831442 - 26/04/2019

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL COMMUNICATION

Director-General

Brussels, COMM.D2/MFC

By registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt

Ms. Josefina Martí Calle de Juan Bravo 62 28006 Madrid Spain

Advance copy by e-mail

Subject: Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2019/2019

Dear Ms. Martí,

I refer to your e-mail dated 29 March 2019, in which you make a request for access to documents, registered on 02 April 2019 under the above-mentioned reference number. You request: “A list of all meetings held by any member of your team/staff with churches, religious associations or communities, as well as with philosophical and non- confessional organisations, from 1 January 2014 onwards, specifying the status of the organization (church, religious association or community, philosophical association or non-confessional association); all documents, including emails, minutes, reports or other documents received or drawn up before, during or after the meetings; and any other briefing papers related to these meetings.” I would like to inform you that during our search for relevant documents we identified the following meetings corresponding to your request.  Jörg Wojahn, Head of the Representation of the in Austria met on 18 Mai 2016 with Michael Bünker, Bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria. He met on 27 Mai 2016 with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna and President of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference. He met on 15 December 2017 with Peter Schipka, Secretary General of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference and on 05 October 2018 with Oskar Deutsch, President of the Jewish Community of Vienna, and Mr Arie Folger, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Vienna.  Richard Kuehnel, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in met on 8 March 2016 with Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal. He met on 13 April 2016 and on 10 May 2017 with Aiman Mazyek of the Council of Muslims in Germany. He met on 5 May 2019 with the Apostolic Nuncio in Germany, Archbishop Dr. Nikola Eterovic.

Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1000 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: +32 2 299 11 11 Office: LOI 56 06/007. Telephone: direct line +32 2 295 30 70 http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/communication

 Stina Soewarta, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Denmark met on 29 March 2019 with Det Jødiske Samfunds politiske chef, Jonas Karpantschof.  Georgios Markopouliotis, Head of the Representation of the Euroepan Commission in Greece met on 20 June 2018 with the Director of the Representative office of the Church of Greece to the , Titular Metropolitan of Achaia Athanassios.  Marek Prawda, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in had a few informal meetings in 2016-2019 with Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, Archbishop of .  Zoran Stančič, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Slovenia met on 13 April 2016, on 14 November 2017 and on 18 December 2018 with Mr Nedžad Grabus, Mufti, Islamic Community in Slovenia. He met on 11 December 2018 with Archbishop Stanislav Zore, Leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia. He met on 6 February 2019 with Mr Aleksandar Obradović, acting leader of the Serbian Orthodox Community in Slovenia.  Graham Blythe, Head of the Office of the Eiuropean Commission in Scotland met on 29 October 2015 with the Inter-Faith representatives at the Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) and on 7 January 2016 with Director General of the Ahlul Bayt Society, Sheikh Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi, Scottish Chairman Shabir Beg and Scottish Secretary Azhar Husnnain. Notwithstanding, we were not able to identify any supporting documents related to these meetings. Therefore, the Directorate-General for Communication does not hold any document that would correspond to your request. As specified in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the right of access as defined in that Regulation applies only to existing documents in the possession of the institution. In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, you are entitled to make a confirmatory application asking the Commission to review this position. Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt of this letter to the Secretary-General of the Commission at the following address: European Commission Secretariat-General Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1) BERL 7/076 B-1049 Brussels or by email to: [email protected]

Yours sincerely,

Pia AHRENKILDE HANSEN

2 Electronically signed on 26/04/2019 15:10 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563