Ombudsman calls for right of access

Date: 09/01/1997

By Simon Coss

EU OMBUDSMAN Jacob Söderman is calling for the right of access to official Union documents to be guaranteed in the revised Maastricht Treaty.

He believes this is the only real way to ensure that the principles of openness and transparency continually trumpeted by politicians and Eurocrats alike as vital for the success of European integration are put into practice.

“The best way forward would be for the Intergovernmental Conference to propose the insertion of a new article in the treatyestablishing a right for citizens to have access to documents held by Community institutions and bodies, subject to a clearly defined list of exceptions that is common to most national legislation on the subject,” he insisted.

At present, the right of access to documents is not guaranteed anywhere in the so-called acquis communautaire the body of EU law.

The nearest thing the Union currently has to such legislation is an annex to the Maastricht Treaty which states: “The conference considers that transparency of the decision-making process strengthens the democratic nature of the institutions and the public's confidence in the administration.”

In the wake of the Maastricht declaration, the Commission and Council of Ministers adopted publicly available rules on access to the documents they hold.

Söderman believes that move was a step in the right direction, but argues that the guidelines as they stand are very limited.

“The rules do not require registers of documents to be published. Nor do they give any right of access to documents held by one body but originating in another,” he pointed out.

Last June, Söderman launched a study of 15 other EU institutions the European Parliament, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the European Investment Bank, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the European Monetary Institute and eight new EU agencies currently up and running in member states with a view to recommending they adopt publicly available rules on access to documents.

He is currently evaluating the results of his inquiry and is set to announce his conclusions later this month.

To date, four of the institutions being scrutinised by the Ombudsman have not provided information on their internal guidelines for access three of the agencies along with the European Monetary Institute (EMI).

The EMI, which is set to become the Union's central bank with the advent of the euro in 1999, has already made it clear it is unlikely to draw up any such rules as it deals with sensitive financial and monetary issues. The institution's founding statute states that all documents will remain confidential unless the EMI's ruling council made up of the institution's president and the governors of the central banks of EU member states decides otherwise.

In a parallel development, the civil liberties watchdog Statewatch complained to Söderman late last year that the Council of Ministers was failing to provide information on meetings of justice and home affairs ministers.

The Ombudsman is currently assessing the complaints to see whether they fall within his somewhat limited competencies. He has a very specific brief and is only allowed to deal with issues of maladministration on the part of Union institutions.

Söderman stressed that his own inquiry was launched before Statewatch lodged its complaints, but nevertheless welcomed the group's efforts to clarify an often murky area of European legislation. “They want more transparency and I am asking for that too,” he said.