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EU:Euro MP demands publication of minutes

01 January 1995

A Dutch member of the Socialist group in the European Parliament, A Metten, has demanded that the Dutch government publish the secret minutes of the Council of Ministers of the EU. The government has refused the demand for fear of annoying the other 14 EU governments. Mr Metten has now appealed against their decision.

He argues that, for all the talk in the Maastricht treaty about openness and "transparency" the reality amounts to the exact opposite. Occasionally ministers hold so-called "open sessions" yet ministers limit themselves during these sessions to the reading of prepared statements.

The rules of procedure for the council of ministers state that everything should remain secret, unless the council decides that certain documents may be made available to the public. A second document, a "code of behaviour" indicates how much access a citizen may have to European documents. However the code has so many restrictions that very little real openness is left.

Metten has tried to gain access to the minutes of meetings of the Finance ministers through asking questions in the Dutch parliament. The finance department refused to answer his questions, saying that they refused to be Mr Mettens "errand boys". Metten does hope to gain access to these minutes by referring to the Dutch Openness of Government Act. He and his lawyer feel that an internal rule of procedure does not amount to European law. The Department of Finance argue that the Dutch openness law doesn't cover information that may damage relations with other governments. Mr Metten questions whether increased openness would do Holland any real damage.