EU: Other developments on openness
01 June 2000
Statewatch takes two new complaints against the Council to the European Ombudsman
At a press conference held in the European Parliament in Brussels on 11 July Statewatch editor Tony Bunyan launched two new complaints with the European Ombudsman concerning the Council of the European Union's (the 15 EU governments) failure to give access to documents and to provide information. The press conference speakers were Heidi Hautala MEP, President of the Green/EFA Group, Glyn Ford MEP (Socialist, PSE), Graham Watson MEP (ELDR, chair of the Citizens' Freedoms and Rights Committee and Renate Schroder (European Federation of Journalists).
The first is a case which Statewatch has already successfully taken to the European Ombudsman but which the Council then tried to get round by pretending that the General Secretariat of the Council is a separate institution to the Council of the European Union. The documents in question are the agendas of the meetings of the "Senior Level Group" and the "EU-US Task Force" set up under the Transatlantic Agenda.
The second concerns the Council's failure to supply a full list of documents for a series of justice and home affairs working parties. This complaint draws attention to the Council's policy excluding certain documents, for example, SN documents (sans numero), meeting documents and room documents, from the agendas, outcome of proceedings and from the public register of EU documents.
For full details see:
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European Ombudsman inquiry leads to Europol adopting code of access
Europol has agreed to use the Council's Decision on public access to documents after internal attempts to draft a code of its own. This decision followed an own initiative inquiry by the European Ombudsman Mr Jacob Soderman when he set a final deadline of 31 July. In 1999 Steve Peers, Essex University, and Statewatch had their requests for Europol agendas rejected by the Council because: "although Europol was set up by a Council act, the Europol Convention, it has a legal personality of its own, distinct from the Council." This is a reference to that fact the Europol is not an EU institution but an international
organisation.
For full details see: Statewatch News online:
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Heidi Hautala case against the Council
In June 1997 Heidi Hautala MEP, who is now leader of the Green Group in the European Parliament, asked the Council of the European Union for a copy of a report setting out the eight criteria for EU arms exports policy. When the Council refused access she took a case to the EU Court of First Instance and won. On 19 July 1999 the Court said that the Council should have consider whether it could have granted "partial access" to the requested document.
In September 1999 the Legal Service of the Council decided - for the first time in a case concerning openness - to appeal against the Court's decision (this decision was taken without reference to the Council of Ministers). Despite this move the Council of Ministers were then faced with the decision of whether to hand over the documents to Heidi Hautala - the Finnish Presidency of the EU was only able to get five other member states to back giving out the documents (Sweden Denmark, UK, the Netherlands and Greece) so in the end the Council of Ministers nodded through a refusal to hand them over.
In the court case two member states have "intervened" on the side of the Council and Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the UK have "intervened" to support Heidi Hautala. It is expected that the Court will make a decision before the end of the year.
"there is a need for radical amendment if the objective of increased openness is to be achieved"
This was the conclusion of a report by the House of Lords' Select Committee on the European Union on the European Commission proposal for a new code of acces