| Author (Person) | Coss, Simon |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.9, No.27, 17.7.03, p6 |
| Publication Date | 17/07/2003 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date:17/07/03 By Simon Coss DEEP divisions over the question of access to EU documents have emerged between one of Europe's best known civil liberties campaigners and the European Parliament's leading expert on the issue. UK Socialist MEP Michael Cashman is currently preparing a detailed report on access to documents that he will present to the Parliament's citizens' rights committee shortly. He says that both the European Commission and the Council of Ministers, which represents EU governments, have made "phenomenal" progress on the issue over the past year. But his comments contrast sharply with remarks made last month by Tony Bunyan, who heads the UK-based EU civil liberties watchdog Statewatch. In a damning criticism of both the Commission and the Council, Bunyan told a meeting of MEPs that ten years after the two institutions first introduced a code of conduct on access to official papers "less than 50% of the contents of documents on the Council's public register have been released and the Commission's public register is absolutely useless". But Cashman argues Bunyan is being too hard on the institutions and insists both the Commission and the Council have come a long way over the past ten years. "Tony and I always come at this question from different angles," he told European Voice. "He's got his menu and he wants it delivered. But I think that overall what the institutions have achieved is phenomenal. In the US with its 29 years of experience of freedom of information they still do not have registers of public documents," he added. Cashman was quick to point out, however, that his praise for the Commission and Council does not mean he believes the two institutions have no more work to do on the transparency issue. "Obviously there is always room for improvement and I will highlight a number of problem areas in my report," he said. The MEP says such problems include the fact that the Commission currently has several registers of documents rather than a single easily accessible database. He adds he is unhappy that, on occasions, the Commission and Council have refused to explain precisely why they have refused to grant access to a particular document. "The rules are very clear on this. In general, requests to see documents should be granted. Any exemptions must be handled on a case by case basis and reasons for refusing access must be specified," he said. Cashman accepted that there were occasions where documents would have to remain classified, for example where truly sensitive security information was involved. But he insisted that the institutions must always give clear reasons for refusing to release a text. There are diverging reports from MEP, Michael Cashman, and civil liberties group Statewatch over the question of access to EU documents. |
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