European Ombudsman finds maladministration in how the Commission handled a request for a text message from France's president about the EU-Mercosur trade deal
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In January 2024 a person asked the European Commission for public access to a text message that the President of France had sent to the President of the Commission about the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations. In a recommendation dated 3 June 2026 (case 2482/2025/NH), the European Ombudsman states that the request remained unaddressed until the complainant filed a confirmatory application 15 months later. The Ombudsman's page says the Commission told it the message had been sent with the 'disappearing messages' feature activated and that, in its July 2025 reply, the Commission said it had carried out an exhaustive search but did not identify the text message. The Ombudsman concluded that the Commission's handling of the request constituted maladministration and said it could not establish whether the message was deleted before or after the request was made. She recommended that the Commission review and improve how it handles access requests involving a Commissioner's Cabinet and monitor their progress to avoid undue delay. She also made two suggestions for improvement: that a document be preserved from the moment an access request for it is received until any challenge to a refusal is finished, and that text and instant messages between Heads of State or Government and Commission Members be kept for a reasonable period. The Commission's position is that no such document is held.
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