Recht auf Zugang zu EU-Dokumenten 'in Gefahr'

European Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros was speaking at a European Parliament hearing on citizens' right of access to EU documents entitled 'Towards a European Freedom of Information Act', which also gathered representatives of the Commission, Council and civil society organisations to discuss "the positive and negative aspects of the current legal framework" regarding citizens' access to documents. 

Commission Vice President responsible for communications strategy Margot Wallström said the revised regulation "will improve citizens' access to documents," which she described as equally important as the right to vote. "Citizens have a right to request access [to documents] and it is the duty of the institutions to deliver this," she added. 

Defining 'document' in this context, Wallström said "all texts received and drafted become documents the moment they are signed and sent". 

Italian MEP Marco Cappato (ALDE), Parliament's rapporteur on the annual review of the access to documents regulation, said improving citizens' access to EU documents would help "combat the democratic deficit separating the EU from its citizens". 

"Those who don't really understand how the institutions work must nontheless be able to find [the documents] they are looking for" to prevent EU communication from being labelled "propaganda" by eurosceptics, he added. 

"If growing euroscepticism is to be eradicated then we must clearly explain what we are doing for the citizen and how we are doing it," said Socialist MEP Michael Cashman (UK), Parliament's rapporteur on the reform of the access to documents regulation. 

"The real democratic deficit is in the Council. We can no longer accept that the Council discusses, debates and votes in secret," Cashman added. 

A representative of the Council expressed reservations about publishing the positions of national delegations, which should be done on "a case-by-case basis" to take account of "the wider public interest". 

Ian Harden, the EU Ombudsman's secretary general, said "no element of this proposal seems to make more documents accessible" and warned the plans could even reduce access. "Narrowing the definition of what constitutes a document would be a step backwards, and this is the Commission's choice," he added. 

Steve Peers of Statewatch, which monitors civil liberties in Europe, called on the Parliament and the Council "to open up the co-decision procedure" because key documents specific to dialogue between the institutions are not currently available to the public and "we never know how negotiations are progressing". 

Meanwhile, he described the revised regulation as "a real step backwards" compared with European Court of Justice case law. 

Tony Venables of the European Citizen Action Service called on the Commission to establish an "independent commissioner for transparency" to deal exclusively with access to documents requests.