EU: Solana coup: access to documents rules re-written to meet NATO demands
01 June 2000
In an swift and unexpected move to satisfy NATO far-reaching changes to the 1993 Council Decision on the public right of access to EU documents were rushed through the Permanent Representatives meeting (COREPER) in Brussels on 26 July. The changes were formally adopted by the EU on 14 August through what is known as "written procedure" (the measure is simply faxed out and is passed if a majority is in favour). National parliaments and the European Parliament were not consulted. The International Federation of Journalists called the move a "Summertime Coup" to satisfy NATO. When Statewatch requested a copy of the options on the table access was refused because it "could fuel public discussion on the subject" and embarrass "the Council's partners". Mr Jacob Soderman, the European Ombudsman, said in an interview that the present code did not need amending to protect military secrets and "non-military crisis management" should not have been included.
The change to the 1993 Decision on documents permanently excludes from public access all documents which are classified Top Secret, Secret and Confidential concerning the "security and defence of the Union or one or more of its Member States or on military or non-military crisis management". It also excludes access to any category of linked documents which "enables conclusions to be drawn" regarding the existence of another, classified document without the express permission in writing of "the author" (eg: NATO or the US).
The person behind these changes is Mr Solana, the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union/High Representative on Common Foreign and Security Policy who is also the Secretary-General of the Western European Union (WEU) military alliance. He was Secretary-General of NATO until September 1999 when he took over the top job at the Council - the body working on behalf of the 15 EU governments.
What is extraordinary about this Decision is that the prime mover for the change was Mr Solana, an appointed of official, and not the EU governments who had put the 1993 Decision in place, set up a public register of documents and agreed that classified documents should be listed on the register (this has now been overturned). Nine EU-NATO governments fell into line and supported the Solana "coup". Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland issued a statement disassociating themselves from the Decision and saying that it should not influence the discussion on the new measure put forward by the Commission (see Statewatch, vol 10 no 1). However, the European Commission immediately put out a statement saying that it too would fall into line and amend its proposal to meet the Solana changes.
The new Decision lumps foreign and military policies together with "non-military crisis management", which includes a proposal to set up a 5,000-strong EU paramilitary police force and it, and impinges on nearly every issue covered by justice and home affairs (including border controls), aid and trade issues.
The Decision was rushed through as Brussels was closing down for the summer, MEPs had left (many were already on holiday) and so had most of the media.
The move throws into utter confusion the Amsterdam Treaty commitment, under Article 255, to "enshrine" the citizen's right of access to EU documents. In January the Commission put forward a new draft code of access to meet this commitment and by July the European Parliament had appointed four Committee rapporteurs with a full agenda running up to Christmas.
All of this begs the obvious question: Who is running the EU? Appointed officials or the governments - because it is certainly not parliaments or the people.
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