EU institutions in discussion on transparency

1.00.00pm GMT Wed 16th Dec 2009

Representatives of the three EU institutions met on Tuesday in Strasbourg to discuss issues of transparency. Minister for EU Affairs Cecilia Malmström, European Parliament Vice-President Diana Wallis and Commissioner Margot Wallström discussed how public access to documents in the EU institutions can be improved on a practical level.

Transparency in the EU is a high priority issue for Sweden and one in which I have a strong interest. Besides working to try to ensure that the principle of public access is given the greatest possible weight in all the EU institutions, the work must also be improved in practice", said Cecilia Malmström in connection with the meeting. This includes facilitating scrutiny and access to documents, including through maximum use of the possibilities offered by the Internet. My ambition is to start a continuous political discussion with the European Parliament and the Commission on these practical measures.

Tuesday's meeting took place within the context of the Interinstitutional Committee on Access to Documents, which was established in 2001. At the meeting, the three representatives agreed that the committee ought to meet at least once a year at political level. The three institutions will also develop cooperation between their document services and their IT departments, with the aim of improving access to documents.

The EU introduced rules on public access to documents in 2001. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December this year, the rules on accessibility were widened to cover documents from all EU institutions. Previously, the rules only applied to the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament.