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EU: REVISION OF THE REGULATION ON ACCESS TO EU DOCUMENTS: Talks collapse on access to EU documents

13 June 2012

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"The Danish presidency has abandoned attempts to agree new rules on access to EU documents. It took the decision on Tuesday (12 June) after EU countries and the European Commission last week rejected its latest draft of the law. It still aims to get MEPs to back a commission proposal to extend existing rules on freedom of information to all EU institutions - including its 31 agencies - however....The incoming Cypriot presidency might pick up where Denmark left off. But the failed talks have left behind a prickly atmosphere."

See: Full article (euobserver, link)

Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director, comments:

"This is a victory for common sense, all the alternatives on the table would have fundamentally undermined openness. However, the intention of the Council Presidency to push through the Commission's 2011 proposal to "Lisbonise" the Regulation is not as simple as they seem to think.

The 2011 proposal would simply extend the scope of the Regulation to EU agencies and bodies but this does not meet the requirements of the Lisbon Treaty. Under Articles 15.1 to 15.3, the Council and the European Parliament have to meet in public when considering draft legislative acts and to ensure the publication of the documents relating to legislative procedures. This gives the European Parliament a real opportunity to insist that the Treaty obligations are fully met.

All the documents concerning legislative procedures have to be made public, including those discussed between the two legislatures (the Council and the European Parliament) in 1st and 2nd reading trilogue meetings which are currently kept secret."

See Statewatch Analyses: Proposed Commission changes to Regulation on access to documents fail to meet Lisbon Treaty commitments (pdf) and Secret trilogues and the democratic deficit (pdf)

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