1995 REPORT RECOMMENDATION
Transparency and accountability
...We welcome the steps which
the Council has taken in recent years to improve the transparency
of its proceedings. In particular the Council's decision to publish
the results of votes gives a useful insight into the positions
of different Governments and the extent of support for a particular
decision.[3]
The Council has also provided much fuller briefings to the press
before and after Council meetings, and in the United Kingdom there
has been fuller consultation and information to Parliament and
Parliamentary Committees. However, in our view, the Council needs
to go further...(247)
...We welcome the Government's
intention to seek to strengthen the presumption in favour of release
of Council documents, and we consider that progress on this matter
should be a United Kingdom priority at the Conference...(247)
OUTCOME OF THE TREATY
Transparency and accountability
Chapter 10 of the Amsterdam Treaty
is concerned with transparency. Article A of the EU Treaty will
be amended to read:
"This Treaty marks a new
stage in the process of creating an ever closer Union among the
peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as openly as
possible and as closely as possible to the citizen."
A new article 191a is to be inserted
in the EC Treaty. This will provide that:
"1. Any citizen
of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having
its registered office in a Member State, shall have a right of
access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents..."
General principles and limits
will be fixed, subject to the co-decision procedure. Each institution
is to elaborate in its rules of procedure specific provisions
regarding access to documents. The provisions of Article 191a
will apply to both the Second and Third Pillars.
A Declaration on Article 191a(1)
will allow a Member State to request the Commission or the Council
not to communicate to third parties a document originating from
that State without its prior agreement.
With regard to the Council, specific
provisions are included in a revised Article 151 of the EC Treaty,
which states:
"For the purpose of
applying article 191a (3), the Council shall elaborate in these
Rules the conditions under which the public shall have access
to Council documents. For the purpose of this paragraph, the
Council shall define the cases in which it is to be regarded as
acting in its legislative capacity, with a view to allowing greater
access to documents in those cases, while at the same time preserving
the effectiveness of its decision-making process. In any event,
when the Council acts in its legislative capacity, the results
of votes and explanations of vote as well as statements in the
minutes shall be made public."
3 OJ L 304, 10 December 1993 and C 213/22, 17 August 1995. Back
