EU 'needs reform to become more transparent'

On 1 April, a coalition of MEPs  committed to increasing the transparency of the decision-making process organised a seminar in the European Parliament in Brussels to look at ways of rebuilding trust between the EU institutions and its citizens, ahead of the European elections on 22-25 May.  

"The unfortunate truth is that very little progress has been made in the thirteen years since Regulation 1049/01. It is essential that we increase momentum in our efforts to achieve a transparent European Union during the next mandate," said Sir Graham Watson MEP (ALDE), former chairman of the LIBE committee when Regulation 1049/01 was negotiated.

"Over the past five years, I have seen that some institutions are more serious than others in ensuring a transparent way of legislating. The issue must be at the heart of the campaign for the next MEPs and especially the next European Commission President," said Michael Cashman CBE, MEP (S&D), rapporteur on the revision of the regulation on public access to documents.

"Only transparency will restore trust in the process of European integration and in the EU institutions. The revision of the transparency regulation is urgent. But a lot can be done without legislation: all EU institutions should appoint a transparency officer, they should pro-actively make available all documents on their websites, and case law must be implemented and codified. We also need proper procedures and criteria for the classification of documents, and lighter procedures for challenging a decision not to grant access to documents," said Sophie In't Veld MEP (ALDE), author of the 2011-2013 Report on public access to documents.

The discussions involved the European Council, the European Ombudsman, lawyers, academics and the civil society, and all agreed that the rules had to be modified towards a wider public access to documents and negotiators had to return to the negotiating table.     "In the era of the internet the classic approach to policy making by secret diplomacy will fail anyway. It is a mistake to reduce people's right to access to documents because this will enhance mistrust in the European Union as a whole.  Council and Commission will have to change their minds," said Eva Lichtenberger MEP (Greens). Following this meeting, civil society is set to launch a transparency pledge for candidates to European elections.

"We stress the need for the new elected Parliament to revise as a matter of urgency the current interinstitutional agreements with the Council and the Commission. Moreover the candidates to the Presidency of the Commission should swiftly submit new amendments to Regulation 1049/01 by aligning it with the Treaties and the European Court of Justice Jurisprudence," concluded Emilio De Capitani, founder of the FREE Group, on behalf of the civil society organisations represented (Statewatch, European Digital Rights, the Fundamental Rights European Experts Groups and the Meijers Committee).

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