[Nettime-bold] New transparency in the EU - far from it!

["Ben Hayes" <ben@statewatch.pipal.net>]

This is in response to Mikael Pawlo's posting "New transparency in 
 the EU". 

It is quite correct that the issue of EU institutions releasing their  
documents onto the internet is part of a new code on public access 
 to EU documents to be approved in the EP plenary on 3rd of May.  
However, this already happens in practise anyway (and has been  
the subject of earlier EU decisions). Council of the European Union 
 documents have been put on a public register for quite some time  
(see <http://register.consilium.eu.int/>) and the Commission and  
EP also "publish" documents on their sites, although finding the  
information you want is not easy. 

What is worrying about Mikael Pawlo's post is that it fully endorses 
 the Brussels spin on the new code. This is very dangerous,  
because rather than having a positive effect on transparency, the  
new code (which was all but formally agreed in secret "trilogue"  
meetings between the Council, Commission and Parliament)  
seriously undermines existing rights of public access to  
documents. 

In fact, the new code is a stitch-up between the Brussels  
institutions, who care more about their own interests in the  
decision-making process (the so-called "space to think"), than the  
interests of EU citizens' public access to information on policy- 
making and implementation.  

The new code is also a blatant breach of the commitment in Article 
 255 of the Amsterdam Treaty to "enshrine" the citizen's right of  
access to EU documents. 

Many groups and individuals have opposed the new code, and have 
 signed a "call for an open Europe". These include: Statewatch, the 
 European Federation of Journalists, the European Environmental  
Bureau, the European Citizen's Advisory Service, NGO's, leading  
academics and lawyers, and citizens. 

For extensive analysis and background on the new code and the  
call for an open Europe see: <http://www.statewatch.org> 







______________________________________________________
Monitoring the state & civil liberties in Europe
Online news service: <http://www.statewatch.org/news>
Statewatch, PO BOX 1516, London. N16 0EW. UK
Phone: 0044-(0)20-8802-1882
Fax: 0044-(0)20-8880-1727


_______________________________________________
Nettime-bold mailing list
Nettime-bold@nettime.org
http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold