Judgment_paragraph 69 · TC v European Parliament (T-309/21)

69Furthermore, the applicant submits that, in its letter of 8 January 2021, the Parliament was wrong to rely on Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ 2018 L 295, p. 39), in order to refuse him access to the evidence which he had requested. The right to the protection of personal data is not absolute and should be weighed against other fundamental rights, in accordance with the principle of proportionality. In the present case, his right to information is based on recitals 21 and 28 and Article 9(1) and (3) of Regulation 2018/1725. Since the recovery of sums paid by way of parliamentary assistance expenses constitutes a matter of public interest, the applicant could have access to personal data in order to assess the merits of the recovery of the sums concerned and to submit observations to the Parliament.