3030年7月8日
为了透明起见，EU OBServer提出了信息自由要求，以获取对欧洲议会内部关于电子烟的辩论的见解。
问题围绕着议会是否需要为欧洲议会议员设立专门的投票台。议会禁止在指定的卷烟区域外抽烟。
一些欧洲议会议员现在要求在布鲁塞尔和斯特拉斯堡为电子烟吸烟者开设四个新的专门投票台，所有负责日常事务的居民都在争论这个问题。
波兰保守派欧洲议会议员卡洛尔·卡尔斯基（Karol Karski）是欧洲议会屈指可数的副总统之一，他也支持一项装饰咖啡馆的提案，“用一系列展示着名人个性的照片在他们全部吸烟的情况下装饰”。
从表面上看，与同一机构处理的较大主题相比，该问题似乎没有争议。
但是，国会秘书长克劳斯·韦尔（Klaus Welle）对新闻自由要求的回应是该机构最资深的幕后人物。
尽管辩论的纪要是在线发布的，但威尔说，任何公开要求的文件都会“严重破坏该机构的决策过程”。
他还争辩说，由于尚未做出决定，因此与请求链接的三个文件都不应公开。
他在一封信中说：“议会强调，为了防止其正在进行的决策过程受到严重破坏，需要对准备文件进行一定程度的保密。”
文件已经发布？
但是要求提供的文件之一是便笺，欧洲议会似乎已经发布了便笺。
它在一月份以同样的信息自由请求将文档公开发布到该网站。
标识文件的特殊标签号码几乎与Welle现在拒绝透露的那个号码相同。
识别标签号分别为644.375 / QUEST和644.375 / QUEST / CM。
一月份发布的通知草案是由议会的医疗部门撰写的。
它指出电子烟和电子烟设备“不能被认为是安全的”。
它突出显示了与雾化有关的新近识别出的肺部疾病，即evali，是一种新兴风险。
它说：“就像烟雾一样，这些气雾不仅被直接使用者而且被旁观者吸入。这被称为二手气雾（SHA）暴露。”
如果确实是相同的话，目前尚不清楚该文件在一月份的公开内容如何有效-但几个月后又构成了“严重风险”。
出于同样的原因，韦尔也拒绝透露其他两个文件。
其中一封是芬兰极左翼议员Mil Silvia Modig写给欧洲议会主席的电子邮件。
威尔说，她的信是“要求禁止在议会场所使用电子烟”。
但是，当莫迪格的办公室被问到给总统的电子邮件时，似乎恰恰相反。
她的办公室在一封电子邮件中说：“她觉得电子烟应该像香烟一样拥有自己的吸烟空间。仅此而已。”
韦勒拒绝发布的第三份也是最后一份文件，是一份说明，其中列出了欧洲议会现有吸烟设施的信息。
显然，该文档也过于敏感，无法公开显示。
Parliament vaping booths 'too confidential' to discuss
June 8th 3030
In an exercise of transparency, EUobserver filed a freedom of inforMATion request to get insights into an internal debate on e-cigarettes at the European Parliament.
The issue revolves around the possibility of setting up specialised booths at parliament premises for MEPs who vape. Vaping is banned at the parliament, outside designated areas for cigarettes.
Some MEPs are now demanding four new specialised booths for e-cigarette smokers in Brussels and in Strasbourg, an issue being debated AMOng all the quaestors in charge of running day to day affairs.
Polish conservative MEP Karol Karski, who is one of the European Parliament's handful of quaestors, is also supporting a proposal to decorate a cafe "with a series of photographs displaying famous personalities while they are all smoking."
On the surface, the issue appears uncontroversial when compared to the bigger topics tackled by the same institution.
But the response to the freedom of information request by the parliament's secretary general Klaus Welle, the institution's most senior behind-the-scenes figure, suggests otherwise.
Although minutes of the debate are published online, Welle says any public exposure of the requested documents would "seriously undermine the institution's decision-making process".
He also argues that since a decision has not yet been made, none of the three documents linked to the request should be made public.
"Parliament stresses that, in order to prevent its onGOINg decision-making process from being seriously undermined, a certain level of confidentiality for preparatory documents is required," he said, in a letter.
document already published?
But one of the requested documents is a note, which the European Parliament appears to have already released.
It made the document public to this website in January under a similar freedom of information request on the very same issue.
A special tag number, which identifies the document, is almost identical to the one Welle is now refusing to disclose.
The identifying tag numbers are respectively 644.375/QUEST and 644.375/QUEST/CM.
The draft notice released in January was written up by the parliament's medical division.
It states electronic cigarettes and vaping devices "cannot be considered safe".
And it highlights the newly-identified lung disease linked to vaping, known as evali, as an emerging risk.
"Much like smoke, these aerosols are inhaled not only by the direct user but also by bystanders. This is known as second-hand aerosol (SHA) exposure," it says.
If indeed the same, it is unclear how the disclosure of this document in January is valid - yet then poses a "serious risk" a few months later.
Welle has also refused to reveal two other documents for similar reasons.
One is an email by Finnish far-left MEP Silvia Modig written to the European Parliament president.
According to Welle, her letter is "requesting a ban on the use of e-cigarettes in parliament premises."
But Modig's office, when queried on the email to the president, appears to say the very opposite.
"She feels that e-cigarettes should have their own space for smoking, just like cigarettes have. That's all," said her office, in an email.
The third and final document, which Welle refused to release, is a note that lays out information on existing smoking facilities at the European Parliament.
Apparently, that document is also too sensitive for public viewing.
