WRITTEN QUESTION E-0571/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Council

(2 March 2000)

Subject: Accountability

Does the Council agree that it is an essential part of the democratic process for those affected by decisions to know how their representatives voted when such decisions were taken so that their electorates can hold them to account?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-0569/00, E-0571/00 and E-0572/00

(8 June 2000)

All the members of the Council agree that openness and transparency are an essential element of the democratic process. As stated in the Preamble to the Treaty on European Union, our common objective is to create an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizens.

The Council has on several occasions reaffirmed its determination to work towards greater transparency, while at the same time preserving the effectiveness of its decision-making process.

This is shown by the following measures which have been taken:

- after each Council meeting a press release is issued which gives information about the decisions adopted by the Council and indicates the decisions for which statements for the minutes have been made available to the public. Those statements may be obtained from the Press Office immediately after the Council meeting. These press releases themselves, as well as the voting results of legislative acts and statements for the minutes, are also available to the public via the Council website;

- a monthly summary of Council acts is available to the public. This summary contains a list of legislative and non-legislative acts of the Council, including the results of votes, explanations of voting and statements for the minutes when the Council is acting in its capacity as legislator. It should be noted that only minutes adopted are official. They can be accessed at the EUDOR website under Transparency of the Council's legislative activities. Information on the Council's legislative transparency can also be obtained by e-mail at the address: transparency@consilium.eu.int;

- the Council also holds open debates on the Presidency's programme on General Affairs and Ecofin matters. The Council may decide to hold other open debates as well;

- public access to Council documents is governed by Council Decision 93/731 of 20 December 1993. The number of document requests from the public has steadily increased since the adoption of this Decision. Furthermore, on 1 January 1999 a public register of Council documents was opened on the Council website, thus enabling our citizens to identify Council documents and apply for them. Since the opening of this register, the number of applications for Council documents has more than doubled. Documents relating to cases where the Council acts in its legislative capacity are in principle released to the public once the Council act is adopted;

- since January of this year a list of items on the provisional agendas of meetings of the Council and its preparatory bodies referring to cases where the Council acts in its legislative capacity, as defined in Article 6 of its Rules of Procedure, is made available to the public on the Council website. In addition, the timetable of Council meetings is published on the Council website.

Finally, the Commission has submitted its proposal on public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents in order to implement Article 255 of the Treaty on European Union. This new legislation will have to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council according to the codecision procedure.