Vienna: Media outlets and press-freedom groups have asked the Commission to reverse its internal rules on EU access to documents, warning in an open letter of 28 October 2026 that journalists face a silent crisis.
The letter went to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Signatories include the Committee to Protect Journalists, EUobserver, the European Federation of Journalists, Follow the Money, Forbidden Stories, the International Federation of Journalists, the International Press Institute, Investigate Europe and PEN International. Reports differ on the exact number, with Anadolu counting 15 signatories and Agence Europe 16.
The groups describe long delays, questionable refusals, heavy redactions and documents that are sometimes not kept or archived properly. They target the Commission’s internal rules of procedure from December 2024, which Agence Europe reports they say create a general presumption against disclosing documents tied to the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. According to the letter, restrictions on EU access to documents have hindered reporting on post-COVID recovery-fund spending and on cooperation with Israel on arms research.
Their demands are specific. The groups want the Commission to revoke the December 2024 rules, apply the access-to-documents regulation strictly, adopt a renewed action plan on journalists’ access to information and comply fully with Court of Justice rulings. They also want stronger filing and archiving, a genuinely comprehensive public document register and published statistics on journalists’ requests and waiting times. Each step would improve EU access to documents in practice.
A separate case adds pressure. European Ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho opened an inquiry the previous week into a complaint from EUobserver, which asked in February for 17 documents on EU-funded infrastructure projects in Gaza. The Commission refused, citing no overriding public interest, and its appeal went unanswered, according to Anadolu.
Access to documents is a right set out in EU law, and the regulation governing it gives citizens and journalists a way to request papers held by the institutions. The press groups argue that practice has drifted from the principle, with the Commission’s own rules of procedure narrowing what reaches the public. Their call for a comprehensive public register matters because reporters cannot ask for what they do not know exists, and a weak archive makes every request harder to answer. Better EU access to documents would therefore depend as much on record-keeping as on the willingness to disclose.
Anjinho asked the Commission to answer the appeal by 4 November. If the answer disappoints her, she will inspect the documents herself. No Commission reply to the letter has been reported, so the dispute over EU access to documents will carry into the Ombudswoman’s deadline next week.
