02/03/2022 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 2 March, the European Ombudsman asked the EU Council to grant access to specific documents relating to past and ongoing interinstitutional negotiations on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) (see EUROPE 12885/7). The request follows a complaint made by several journalists who were refused access by the EU Council to certain documents relating to comments and positions of Member States regarding the DMA. Only some of the documents identified by the EU Council had been fully or partially consulted. At the time, the EU Council argued that certain information could be misinterpreted and lead to “unprecedented” lobbying. This was not a convincing argument for the Ombudsman, who was of the opinion that this argument was not sufficiently substantiated and that full access should be granted to the documents. (TM)