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EU: Draft Interinstitutional Agreement between the Parliament and the Council concerning classified information on matters other than those in the area of the Common Foreign and Security Policy

01 February 2012

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EU: European Parliament and the Council of the European Union deal on access to classified information: Draft Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament and the Council concerning the forwarding to and handling by the European Parliament of classified information held by the Council on matters other than those in the area of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (pdf). This is the final deal awaiting the parliament's formal agreement. The deal covers not just TOP SECRET, SECRET and CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS but also RESTRICTED documents the definition of which is defined as:

"This marking is applied to information and material the unauthorised disclosure of which could be disadvantageous to the interests of the European Union or of one or more of the Member States." (emphasis added). There is always the temptation open to officials to push a "LIMITE" document, which is not a classified document, up to the "RESTRICTED" level to deny access as this could be "disadvantageous" and lead to a public debate.

The deal also gives EU agencies, like FRONTEX, the same powers as Member States to veto access being given to their documents. Access will require "the prior written consent of the originator" - such a power should not be available to agencies.

Overall the deal would allow "security-cleared" MEPs to have access to classified documents but they would not be able to make copies or take notes: infotmastion from the documents cannot "be disclosed to persons other than those to whom access has been granted". MEPs would have to make a "solemn declaration of non-disclosure".

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