Support Our Work Mailing list About / Contact
  • Home /
  • News /
  • 2014 /
  • March /
  • EU: SECRECY: Statewatch Analysis: Constructing the secret EU state: “Restricted” and “Limite” documents hidden from view by the Council

EU: SECRECY: Statewatch Analysis: Constructing the secret EU state: “Restricted” and “Limite” documents hidden from view by the Council

28 March 2014

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

"• Over 117,000 “RESTRICTED” documents produced or handled by the Council since 2001 but only 13,184 are listed in its public register of documents
• 103,839 “RESTRICTED” documents not listed in the Council’s public register due to the “originators” right of veto?
• The Council seeks to stop the publication of unreleased “LIMITE” documents, which are defined as “sensitive unclassified documents”
• The Commission has failed to implement the Lisbon Treaty to ensure that all legislative documents are made public as they are produced - this means that 60% of Council documents relating to legislative decision-making are made public after “the final adoption” of measures
• The Council uses Article 4.3, the “space to think”, to refuse access to 50% of requests for access to legislative documents under discussion"

Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director, comments:

“The Council have constructed a two-tier system of secrecy to keep from public view thousands and thousands of documents. This has been compounded by the failure of the European Commission to put forward proposals to implement the provision in the Lisbon Treaty to make all documents concerning the legislative procedure public.

In place of the need to deepen democratic openness and accountability in EU the Council has entrenched a system of secrecy based on its discretion to decide whether and when to make documents public.

The result is that the European legislature – the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament – meet in secret trilogues to decide over 80% of new laws going through the EU.”

See the full text: Constructing the secret EU state: “Restricted” and “Limite” documents hidden from view by the Council (pdf)

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

EU: SECRECY: Statewatch Analysis

Next article 

EU: UK: The House of Lords European Union Committee has published its latest report

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error

Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.

About | Contact | Privacy Policy