Limiting access to information

On May 20th 1998 Corporate Europe Observatory formally requested access to all correspondence and minutes of meetings held between representatives of the European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT) and EC President Santer, former EC President Delors, and former Commissioners Davignon and Ortoli. With regards to Santer, the office of the President denied access to his correspondence with the ERT "in view of the informal and therefore private character of these exchanges", adding that no official notes of the meetings exist. More direct was the reply concerning former President Delors: "In view of the fact that the archives of the President, Commissioners, former Presidents and former Commissioners are regarded as being of private nature, Mr. Delors has informed us of his wish not to grant you access to his documents regarding the ERT". Concerning the correspondence sent by Etienne Davignon in his time as Industry Commissioner, DG III informed us that "after circumstantial search in the archives of our Directorate General, I regret to have to inform you that we do not have the documents in question".