Magazine case highlights degrees of EU openness

Date: 25/09/1997

By Ole Ryborg

THE conflict between the traditional system of open government in Denmark and Sweden and EU rules governing public access to documents was thrown into sharp relief at a European Court hearing in Luxembourg last week.

Lawyers for both governments faced intense questioning by judges at the Court of First Instance who wanted to know how it was possible for the two countries to hand over documents relating to the Europol police agency under national rules of access when the Union's Council of Ministers had decided against publication of the papers in question.

The case centres on a complaint brought by the Swedish journalists' magazine Tidningen Journalisten about the Council's refusal to hand over documents which both Copenhagen and Stockholm were happy to release.

The issue has once again caused a split among Union member states. On one side are the Danish, Swedish and Dutch governments who support the magazine's case. On the other, France and the UK defend the Council's right not to give out the relevant documents and question the Scandinavian countries' practice of publishing EU papers considered by the Council to be confidential.

Following last week's hearing, there was much speculation among lawyers and in the media in the two Scandinavian member states that the Court of First Instance might rule against the countries concerned handing out EU documents under their national rules on access to information.

That could force both governments to amend existing laws on access to documents and open government, and might even force Sweden to change its constitution. That would spark a national outcry and give the Eurosceptics in the two countries a boost.

But other legal experts suggested the Court might simply dismiss the case because of the many mistakes made by Tidningen Journalisten in its presentation.