Toespraak eurocommissaris Margot Wallstrom: Europese Unie moet transparanter (en)

Margot Wallstrom

Vice President of the European Commission

Cashman report on Public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents

European Parliament, March I 2009 part-session

10 March 2009

Mr. President,

Honourable Members,

Thank you for a very substantive report on the Commission's proposal for a recast of Regulation 1049 regarding public access to documents.

This is a very important and cherished subject. I appreciate the enormous work that has been done by Mr Cashman as rapporteur and also many other active, interested and skilled people in this house.

This is a subject that touches upon fundamental and sometimes conflicting rights of citizens, associations or undertakings. We need to look very carefully at the necessary changes to be made to the Regulation. And we need to remain focussed on openness.

All three institutions have agreed that, overall, Regulation 1049 has worked remarkably well, for almost 8 years now. Parliament, Council and Commission are much more open now than ever before. You could say that the change of rules lead to a change of practice and to a change of minds and attitudes.

At the same time Parliament, Council and Commission also agree that legitimate interests have received adequate protection.

We should not forget that the EU institutions have granted access to a higher number of documents while a decrease in the number and rate of refusals has been registered.

So I hope you agree that 1049 has proven its value. For this reason a complete overhaul is not necessary. This being said, even a good tool can always be improved.

The legal base we have as our starting point is Article 255 of the Treaty. Following that, the Regulation shall define the principles and the limits governing the citizens' right of access to documents.

As regards the report at hand, I note that some amendments go beyond the scope of Article 255 of the Treaty. Therefore, these amendments cannot be accepted.

But – and this is an important but – they point to important issues that may well be addressed in another context. The Commission will certainly look at that with a constructive, pragmatic and open mind.

It is good practice to assess from time to time whether legislation works well and achieves its objectives. It is in this spirit that the Commission drafted its proposal for a recast of the Regulation.

The use of the recast technique meets the objective of "better lawmaking". Since this Regulation touches upon a fundamental right of citizens, it is of utmost importance to adopt a single, clear and readable legal text.

The recast technique does not tie the hands of the legislator more than the traditional way of amending legislation. Irrespective of the choice of legislative technique, the Community legislator may not go beyond the "aim" of the proposal.

We are committed to continue to enhance transparency and openness: I firmly believe this is a good way to do it.

But in this context I have to mention that a number of the amendments concern provisions of 1049 which the Commission did not propose to amend. We are not in a position to accept them, because they go beyond the scope of the Commission's proposal.

This being said, the Commission is of course willing to take on board good ideas! However, at this moment, we are still in the early stages of the procedure.

I want to confirm that the Commission is wiling to discuss with the two co-legislators. I want to confirm that we want to try to find common ground in order to reach a balanced and workable compromise text.

However, the Commission prefers to come forward with an amended proposal when the two co-legislators have stated their position. We cannot and we will not prejudge or anticipate discussions or negotiations.

We should also bear in mind the changes that the Treaty of Lisbon – if and when it enters into force – will bring about on this important issue. Regulation 1049 will then apply to all institutions, bodies, agencies and offices of the EU; albeit to a limited extent for the Court of Justice, the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank.

For citizens the Treaty of Lisbon will mean real progress when all EU bodies will apply a common set of rules on access to documents. Such a single set of rules ensures consistency. But at the same time it must be tailored to fit a great number of bodies with very different mandates and competences.

I would also like to repeat what I have said at previous occasions in this house and elsewhere. 1049 is a cornerstone of a policy on transparency, but we also need to think about what we can do pro-actively outside the formal legislation.

That is why I announced on 20 January at the LIBE committees Joint Committee Meeting that I'm taking the initiative to prepare an openness action plan.

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  improved registers,
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  greater user-friendliness and accessibility,
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  active dissemination and quicker publishing of documents are some examples I want to address in this action plan – and of course continue to discuss with the other EU Institutions.

This is a pragmatic and efficient way to mainstream transparency into all our policies. We need to lead by example! In this spirit, we should also look at ways to make our institutions and the way they operate more understandable to citizens. We need an active policy of informing citizens and making them aware of how Europe-wide policies affect their everyday life. Regulation 1049 is of course an important tool but, beyond the legal text, it is how we put this into practice that really counts.

To sum up the Commission's position on Mr Cashman's report at this stage of the procedure, I want to say the following:

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  There are some amendments the Commission can not accept because they go beyond the legal base of Article 255 of the Treaty.
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  There are other amendments we can not accept because they go beyond the scope of the Commission’s proposed changes.
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  But in some cases such amendments nevertheless point to important issues that may well be addresses in another context.
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  Also, the Commission is always willing to take on board good ideas, in whatever context it may be.
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  Once we have Parliament’s position and the Council’s position, you will have the position from the third corner in the institutional triangle.

I look forward to interesting and thought-provoking discussions to come. The subject deserves it and our citizens are entitled to expect a clear and well-functioning legislation on public access to our documents.

Thank you.