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PARALLEL TEXTS
La BCE ha validamente rifiutato l’accesso a due documenti legati alla situazione economica in Grecia
Inglese tratto da:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_CJE-12-156_en.htm
Italiano tratto da:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_CJE-12-156_it.htm
Data documento: 29-11-2012
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The ECB was entitled to refuse access to two documents relating to the economic situation in Greece
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La BCE ha validamente rifiutato l’accesso a due documenti legati alla situazione economica in Grecia
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Disclosure of those documents would have undermined the protection of the public interest so far as concerns the economic policy of the European Union and Greece
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La loro divulgazione avrebbe arrecato pregiudizio alla tutela dell’interesse pubblico della politica economica dell’Unione e della Grecia
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Any citizen of the EU, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State, is to have a right of access to documents of the European Central Bank (ECB).
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Qualsiasi cittadino dell'Unione e qualsiasi persona fisica o giuridica che risieda o abbia la sede sociale in uno Stato membro ha un diritto d'accesso ai documenti della Banca centrale europea (BCE).
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Nonetheless, the ECB must refuse access to a document where, inter alia, its disclosure would undermine the protection of the public interest.
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Tuttavia, la BCE deve rifiutare l'accesso a un documento quando la sua divulgazione arrechi in particolare pregiudizio alla tutela dell'interesse pubblico.
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Ms Gabi Thesing is a journalist who works for Bloomberg Finance LP, which operates in London under the name of Bloomberg News.
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La sig.ra Gabi Thesing è giornalista presso la Bloomberg Finance LP, che esercita le proprie attività a Londra con il nome Bloomberg News.
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On 20 August 2010, she requested the ECB to grant access to two documents, entitled ‘The impact on government deficit and debt from off-market swaps.
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Il 20 agosto 2010, ha chiesto alla BCE l'accesso a due documenti intitolati «L’impatto su deficit e debito pubblici degli swap negoziati fuori borsa.
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The Greek case’ and ‘The Titlos transaction and possible existence of similar transactions impacting on the euro area government debt or deficit levels’.
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Il caso della Grecia« e «L’operazione Titlos e la possibile esistenza di operazioni analoghe con impatto sui livelli di debito e deficit pubblici della zona euro».
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The ECB refused access to those documents on the ground, inter alia, of the protection of the public interest so far as concerns the economic policy of the EU and Greece.
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La BCE ha negato l'accesso a tali documenti adducendo a motivazione la tutela dell'interesse pubblico per quanto riguarda la politica economica dell'Unione europea e della Grecia.
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Ms Thesing and Bloomberg Finance LP challenged that decision before the General Court.
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La sig.ra Thesing e la Bloomberg Finance LP hanno contestato tale decisione dinanzi al Tribunale.
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In today's judgment, the General Court dismisses that action.
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Nella sua sentenza odierna, il Tribunale respinge il ricorso.
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First, the Court analyses the argument that there is a compelling public interest for disclosure of the documents at issue which would in fact further the public interest.
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In primo luogo, il Tribunale esamina l'argomento secondo cui vi sarebbe un interesse pubblico prevalente che giustifica la divulgazione dei documenti che servirebbe, in realtà, l'interesse pubblico.
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The Court rejects that argument and takes the view that, where disclosure of a document undermines the public interest, the ECB is obliged to refuse access, and no weighing up of that public interest against an ‘overriding public interest’ is provided for by EU law.
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Il Tribunale respinge tale argomento e considera che, quando la divulgazione di un documento arreca pregiudizio all'interesse pubblico, la BCE è tenuta a rifiutare l'accesso, e un suo bilanciamento con un «interesse pubblico superiore» non è previsto dal diritto dell'Unione.
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Second, the Court examines whether the ECB’s refusal to grant access to the documents is vitiated by a manifest error of assessment as regards whether there is a risk that the public interest will be undermined so far as concerns the economic policy of the EU and Greece.
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In secondo luogo, il Tribunale esamina se il rifiuto opposto dalla BCE sia viziato da un errore manifesto di valutazione quanto all'esistenza di un rischio di pregiudizio all'interesse pubblico, per quanto riguarda la politica economica dell'Unione e della Grecia.
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The first document contained ECB staff assumptions and views regarding the impact of off-market swaps on government deficit and on government debt with a particular view to the case of Greece, in order to offer, on the basis of partial data that were available at the time the document was drafted, a snapshot of the situation in March 2010.
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Il primo documento conteneva le ipotesi e i punti di vista dei membri del personale della BCE relativi all’impatto su deficit e debito pubblici degli swap negoziati fuori borsa, con riferimento particolare al caso della Grecia, per fornire, sulla base dei dati parziali disponibili al momento della sua redazione, un'istantanea della situazione nel marzo 2010.
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In October 2010 – and therefore more than seven months after the document was drafted – the ECB justified its refusal to grant access to that document on the ground that the information contained therein was outdated.
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Nell'ottobre 2010 - quindi oltre sette mesi dopo la sua redazione - la BCE ha motivato il diniego di accesso al documento essendo le informazioni in esso contenute superate.
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Accordingly, disclosure of that information would bear the substantial and acute risk of severely misleading the public in general and the financial markets in particular.
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La loro divulgazione avrebbe presentato pertanto un rischio importante e grave di ingannare fortemente il pubblico in generale e i mercati finanziari in particolare.
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In a very vulnerable market environment, that disclosure would affect the proper functioning of the financial markets.
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In un ambiente di mercato molto vulnerabile, la divulgazione avrebbe pregiudicato il buon funzionamento dei mercati finanziari.
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Thus, disclosure of the information contained in that document would undermine public confidence as regards the effective conduct of economic policy in the EU and Greece.
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Pertanto avrebbe arrecato pregiudizio alla fiducia del pubblico nell'effettiva conduzione della politica economica dell'Unione e della Grecia.
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In this respect, the Court observes that, at the time of adoption of the refusal decision, the European financial markets found themselves in a very vulnerable environment.
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A tal riguardo, il Tribunale rileva che, al momento dell'adozione della decisione di rigetto, i mercati finanziari europei si trovavano in una situazione molto vulnerabile.
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The stability of those markets was fragile, in particular, because of the economic and financial situation of Greece.
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La stabilità di tali mercati era fragile, in particolare, a causa della situazione economica e finanziaria della Grecia.
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Moreover, that situation and the related sales of Greek financial assets were causing strong depreciations in the value of those assets, which also triggered losses for Greek and other European holders.
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Peraltro, detta situazione e le conseguenti vendite di attività finanziarie greche provocavano forti deprezzamenti del valore di dette attività, circostanza che avrebbe comportato anche perdite per i detentori greci e gli altri detentori europei.
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In such an environment, it is clear that market participants use the information disclosed by central banks and that their analyses and decisions are considered a particularly important and reliable source to assess financial market developments.
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In un tale contesto, è evidente che gli attori del mercato utilizzino le informazioni divulgate dalle banche centrali e che le loro analisi e decisioni siano considerate come una fonte particolarmente importante e affidabile per effettuare una valutazione dall'andamento del mercato finanziario.
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Consequently, the Court takes the view that the ECB did not commit a manifest error of assessment in considering that disclosure of that document would specifically and effectively undermine the public interest so far as concerns the economic policy of the EU and Greece.
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Di conseguenza, il Tribunale ritiene che la BCE non abbia commesso un errore manifesto di valutazione considerando che la divulgazione del documento avrebbe arrecato un pregiudizio effettivo e concreto all'interesse pubblico per quanto riguarda la politica economica dell'Unione e della Grecia.
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In support of that conclusion, the Court adds that the fact that the data contained were outdated does not permit the conclusion that, in the event of disclosure of the document at issue, financial market participants would also have regarded as outdated and therefore of no value ECB staff assumptions and views contained in that document.
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A sostegno di tale conclusione, il Tribunale aggiunge che il fatto che i dati contenuti fossero superati non consente di concludere che, in caso di divulgazione del documento, gli attori dei mercati finanziari avrebbero considerato del pari superati, e quindi senza valore, le ipotesi e i punti di vista dei membri del personale della BCE contenuti in esso.
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Although it is true that financial market participants are professionals who are accustomed to working with that type of document, the fact remains that they consider assumptions and views originating from the ECB to be particularly important and reliable for assessing the financial market.
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Infatti, sebbene gli attori dei mercati siano professionisti abituati a lavorare con tale tipo di documenti, essi considerano comunque le ipotesi e i punti di vista provenienti dalla BCE come particolarmente importanti ed affidabili per effettuare una valutazione del mercato finanziario.
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It cannot reasonably be precluded therefore that those assumptions and views would have been regarded as still valid.
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Non si può dunque ragionevolmente escludere che i medesimi sarebbero stati considerati come ancora validi.
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Accordingly, any clarification by the ECB on the disclosed version of that document, indicating that that information was no longer up to date, would not have been able to prevent its disclosure from misleading the public and financial market participants in particular on the situation regarding the government deficit and government debt as assessed by the ECB.
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Di conseguenza, un’eventuale precisazione della BCE sulla versione divulgata da tale documento, recante l’indicazione che tali informazioni non erano più attuali, non avrebbe potuto impedire che la sua divulgazione inducesse in errore il pubblico e gli attori dei mercati finanziari, in particolare sulla situazione relativa al deficit e al debito pubblici come valutata dalla BCE.
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Such an error might have had negative consequences on access, in particular for Greece, to the financial markets, and might therefore have affected the effective conduct of economic policy in Greece and the EU.
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Un tale errore avrebbe potuto avere conseguenze negative sull'accesso, in particolare della Grecia, ai mercati finanziari, e avrebbe dunque potuto incidere sulla conduzione effettiva della politica economica della Grecia e dell'Unione.
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The second document included, in essence, the background to the ‘Titlos’ transaction as well as an analysis carried out by ECB staff on the financial structure of that transaction and the possible existence of similar transactions effected by other Member States.
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Il secondo documento conteneva, sostanzialmente, la descrizione del contesto di fondo dell’operazione «Titlos» nonché l'analisi dei membri del personale della BCE sulla struttura finanziaria di detta operazione e dell'esistenza eventuale di operazioni analoghe realizzate da altri Stati membri.
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In this context, the ECB examined the manner in which Greece had used off-market swaps and the consequences of those swaps for existing risks.
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In tale contesto, la BCE aveva esaminato il modo in cui la Grecia aveva usato swap negoziati fuori borsa e le conseguenze di siffatti swap per i rischi esistenti.
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Since the content of that document is closely connected with that of the first document, the Court holds that, for the same reasons, the ECB’s assessment that its disclosure would undermine the economic policy of the EU and Greece is not vitiated by a manifest error.
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Poiché il contenuto di tale documento era strettamente legato a quello del primo, il Tribunale dichiara che, per le medesime ragioni, la valutazione della BCE secondo cui la sua divulgazione avrebbe arrecato pregiudizio alla politica economica dell'Unione e della Grecia non è viziata da errore manifesto.
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NOTE:
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IMPORTANTE:
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An appeal, limited to points of law only, may be brought before the Court of Justice against the decision of the General Court within two months of notification of the decision.
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Contro la decisione del Tribunale, entro due mesi a decorrere dalla data della sua notifica, può essere proposta un'impugnazione, limitata alle questioni di diritto, dinanzi alla Corte.
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NOTE:
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IMPORTANTE:
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An action for annulment seeks the annulment of acts of the institutions of the European Union that are contrary to European Union law.
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Il ricorso di annullamento mira a far annullare atti delle istituzioni dell’Unione contrari al diritto dell’Unione.
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The Member States, the European institutions and individuals may, under certain conditions, bring an action for annulment before the Court of Justice or the General Court.
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A determinate condizioni, gli Stati membri, le istituzioni europee e i privati possono investire la Corte di giustizia o il Tribunale di un ricorso di annullamento.
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If the action is well founded, the act is annulled.
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Se il ricorso è fondato, l'atto viene annullato.
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The institution concerned must fill any legal vacuum created by the annulment of the act. |
L'istituzione interessata deve rimediare all’eventuale lacuna giuridica creata dall’annullamento dell’atto.La BCE |
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LISTEN WITH READSPEAKER
The ECB was entitled to refuse access to two documents relating to the
economic situation in Greece
Disclosure of those documents would have undermined the protection of
the public interest so far as concerns the economic policy of the European Union
and Greece
Any citizen of the EU, and any natural or legal person residing or
having its registered office in a Member State, is to have a right of access to
documents of the European Central Bank (ECB).
Nonetheless, the ECB must refuse access to a document where, inter
alia, its disclosure would undermine the protection of the public interest.
Ms Gabi Thesing is a journalist who works for Bloomberg Finance LP,
which operates in London under the name of Bloomberg News.
On 20 August 2010, she requested the ECB to grant access to two
documents, entitled ‘The impact on government deficit and debt from off-market
swaps.
The Greek case’ and ‘The Titlos transaction and possible existence of
similar transactions impacting on the euro area government debt or deficit
levels’.
The ECB refused access to those documents on the ground, inter alia, of
the protection of the public interest so far as concerns the economic policy of
the EU and Greece.
Ms Thesing and Bloomberg Finance LP challenged that decision before the
General Court.
In today's judgment, the General Court dismisses that action.
First, the Court analyses the argument that there is a compelling
public interest for disclosure of the documents at issue which would in fact
further the public interest.
The Court rejects that argument and takes the view that, where
disclosure of a document undermines the public interest, the ECB is obliged to
refuse access, and no weighing up of that public interest against an ‘overriding
public interest’ is provided for by EU law.
Second, the Court examines whether the ECB’s refusal to grant access to
the documents is vitiated by a manifest error of assessment as regards whether
there is a risk that the public interest will be undermined so far as concerns
the economic policy of the EU and Greece.
The first document contained ECB staff assumptions and views regarding
the impact of off-market swaps on government deficit and on government debt with
a particular view to the case of Greece, in order to offer, on the basis of
partial data that were available at the time the document was drafted, a
snapshot of the situation in March 2010.
In October 2010 – and therefore more than seven months after the
document was drafted – the ECB justified its refusal to grant access to that
document on the ground that the information contained therein was outdated.
Accordingly, disclosure of
that information would bear the substantial and acute risk of severely
misleading the public in general and the financial markets in particular.
In a very vulnerable market environment, that disclosure would affect
the proper functioning of the financial markets.
Thus, disclosure of the information contained in that document would
undermine public confidence as regards the effective conduct of economic policy
in the EU and Greece.
In this respect, the Court observes that, at the time of adoption of
the refusal decision, the European financial markets found themselves in a very
vulnerable environment.
The stability of those markets was fragile, in particular, because of
the economic and financial situation of Greece.
Moreover, that situation and the related sales of Greek financial
assets were causing strong depreciations in the value of those assets, which
also triggered losses for Greek and other European holders.
In such an environment, it is clear that market participants use the
information disclosed by central banks and that their analyses and decisions are
considered a particularly important and reliable source to assess financial
market developments.
Consequently, the Court takes the view that the ECB did not commit a
manifest error of assessment in considering that disclosure of that document
would specifically and effectively undermine the public interest so far as
concerns the economic policy of the EU and Greece.
In support of that conclusion, the Court adds that the fact that the
data contained were outdated does not permit the conclusion that, in the event
of disclosure of the document at issue, financial market participants would also
have regarded as outdated and therefore of no value ECB staff assumptions and
views contained in that document.
Although it is true that financial market participants are
professionals who are accustomed to working with that type of document, the fact
remains that they consider assumptions and views originating from the ECB to be
particularly important and reliable for assessing the financial market.
It cannot reasonably be precluded therefore that those assumptions and
views would have been regarded as still valid.
Accordingly, any clarification by the ECB on the disclosed version of
that document, indicating that that information was no longer up to date, would
not have been able to prevent its disclosure from misleading the public and
financial market participants in particular on the situation regarding the
government deficit and government debt as assessed by the ECB.
Such an error might have had negative consequences on access, in
particular for Greece, to the financial markets, and might therefore have
affected the effective conduct of economic policy in Greece and the EU.
The second document included, in essence, the background to the
‘Titlos’ transaction as well as an analysis carried out by ECB staff on the
financial structure of that transaction and the possible existence of similar
transactions effected by other Member States.
In this context, the ECB examined the manner in which Greece had used
off-market swaps and the consequences of those swaps for existing risks.
Since the content of that document is closely connected with that of
the first document, the Court holds that, for the same reasons, the ECB’s
assessment that its disclosure would undermine the economic policy of the EU and
Greece is not vitiated by a manifest error.
NOTE:
An appeal, limited to points of law only, may be brought before the Court of
Justice against the decision of the General Court within two months of
notification of the decision.
NOTE:
An action for annulment seeks the annulment of acts of the institutions of the
European Union that are contrary to European Union law.
The Member States, the European institutions and individuals may, under certain
conditions, bring an action for annulment before the Court of Justice or the
General Court.
If the action is well founded, the act is annulled.
The institution concerned must fill any legal vacuum created by the annulment of
the act. |