Special Report from the European Ombudsman to the European Parliament following the draft recommendation to the Council of the European Union in complaint 2395/2003/GG (Made in accordance with Article 3 (7) of the Statute of the European Ombudsman)

The present special report concerns the question as to whether the Council of the European Union should meet publicly whenever it acts in a legislative capacity. The Ombudsman's inquiry into this matter results from a complaint made in December 2003. At present, the extent to which the Council's meetings in its legislative capacity are public is limited by the Council's own internal Rules of Procedure. All that needs to be done in order to open all such meetings to the public would therefore be for Council to amend its Rules of Procedure. In the Ombudsman's view, the Council's failure to do so constitutes an instance of maladministration. This finding is based on the following considerations: (a) Article 1 (2) of the Treaty on European Union establishes a general principle that the Council and the other Community institutions and bodies must take decisions 'as openly as possible” and (b) the Council has not submitted any valid reasons as to why it should be unable to amend its Rules of Procedure with a view to opening up the relevant meetings to the public.