WRITTEN QUESTION E-1095/96 by James Moorhouse (PPE) to the Council (8 May 1996)

Subject: Public debates in the Council

Further to the Council's answer (of 6 February 1996) to my Written Question E-2770/95 (of 11 October 1995), ((OJ C 79, 18.3.1996, p. 22.)) could the Council now:

1. issue a further table listing public meetings in the Council for the period since 1 November 1995, as well as those expected during the remainder of the current presidency;

2. indicate precisely who has access to the room (within the Justus Lipsius building) in which public debates are broadcast, and how the 'public', at whom presumably these broadcasts are directed, can obtain advanced information about when broadcast debates are to be held;

3. indicate what would happen to a member of the general public arriving at the Justus Lipsius building in advance of a public debate in the Council and asking to be admitted to observe proceedings;

4. explain how it is possible that the Council Secretariat 'does not have a list of requests for public debates which did not receive unanimous approval in the Council', given that any such rejection must be clearly in the minds of defeated states and feature in the minutes of the meetings involved;

5. publish a list of such defeated requests in accordance with the principle of openness of the Council?

Reply (29 October 1996)

1. The Honourable Member will find attached a list of public debates organized by the Council between 1 November 1995 and 30 June 1996 and a provisional list of topics, approved by the Council on 15 July 1996, which might be the subject of open debates under the Irish Presidency.

2. The thinking behind making certain Council meetings public was precisely to open them up to the media and to interested members of the public.

The Council Secretariat's Press Office informs the media as a matter of course whenever open debates are being held for audio-visual transmission to the public. The public nature of these debates is emphasized in every announcement as well as in the briefing material which the General Secretariat prepares on the Council meeting.

Persons arriving at the Council building for an open debate are referred to the Press Centre or more specifically, the Press Conference room, which is open to all members of the public for the occasion.

In addition, television channels wishing to record or directly transmit debates are provided with the technical means to do so.

3. As stated in paragraph 2, any citizen arriving at the Justus Lipsius building and wishing to hear one of the Council's public debates is invited to the Press Conference room in the Council's Press Centre where he/she may follow the live television broadcast of the debate concerned with simultaneous interpretation into the eleven official languages.

4. Apart from the two matters which must be publicly debated under each Presidency, i.e. the Presidency's programme for General Affairs and ECOFIN, the Presidency, after consulting the General Secretariat and discussing the matter with the Permanent Representatives Committee, prepares a list of subjects for public debate and meetings at which these debates will be held. This list is submitted to the Council for general approval; delegations may make suggestions at this planning stage but any such proposals are made informally, otherwise the Council's departments would be obliged to make an official record of them.

Moreover, the need to keep a list of requests for public debates has not so far been an issue. Discussions on the organization of open debates normally take place at Permanent Representatives Committee meetings.

5. Given this scenario, the Council is not in a position to provide a list of requests for open debates which have not gained the Council's approval. ANNEX Public Council meetings

1.11.95 - 30.6.96

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Open debates under the Irish Presidency

List of potential topics approved by the Council on 15 July 1996 for open debate at Council meetings under the Irish Presidency:

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