Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Transparency ruling challenges EU states

  • Member states need to be more transparent, says the European Court of Justice (Photo: Alfonso Salgueiro)

Europe’s top court has ruled against member states wanting to withhold information on the EU legislative process in what is said to be a landmark case for greater transparency.

People requesting documents from the Council of the European Union - representing national governments - receive them with the names of member states blocked out.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Madrid-based Access Info Europe, an international human rights organisation, challenged the practice and the policy and won.

“The importance is for civil society, for journalists, for members of the general public to know what our governments are doing inside the Council and what positions they are taking,” Helen Darbishire, Access Info Europe executive director, told this website on Monday (21 October).

The NGO says people should have the right to know the positions of member states early on in the legislative process.

The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice agreed.

Last Thursday, the court ruled the European treaties require the European Parliament and the Council to “ensure publication of the documents relating to the legislative procedures.”

Darbishire said the council would now find it very difficult to justify withholding the names of member states whenever someone asks for the documents to be released.

“It would have to be on a very specific case by case basis,” she noted.

She added: “It doesn’t necessarily apply to other decisions but it would definitely apply to discussions around future EU legislation.”

The spat dates back to late 2008 when the NGO received redacted documents from the Council. They challenged the Council in the general court in March 2011 to receive all the information. They won but the Council appealed.

The Council argued that releasing the names of the member states in the document requested would seriously undermine the decision-making process.

Revealing positions in the early stages of the legislative decision-making process, they added, could restrict the member state delegations’ “room for manoeuvre” as a result of pressure from public opinion.

The Council’s appeal, supported by Greece and the UK and Ireland, said there was no overriding public interest in revealing the names of the member states.

The top court has now overturned it in a final decision.

Darbishire said the level of transparency at the EU level would further increase if member states apply the ruling to other documents and not just to those that reveal member states' positions early on.

Member states, for their part, are set to discuss the ruling in its working party on information on Monday (28 October).

Interview

'If it's public money, it has to be visible'

The EU capital is awash with secretive lobbying and 'revolving door' cases. O'Reilly, the newly-elected ombudsman, is promising to shake up the cosy consensus.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us