WRITTEN QUESTION P-0504/01 by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Council. Transparency and the Council of Ministers.
Date: 2001-02-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Council of Ministers, access to EU information, dissemination of EU information, public conduct of debates, transparency in decision-making

4.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 340 E/39

(2001/C 340 E/044)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0504/01

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Council

(15 February 2001)

Subject: Transparency and the Council of Ministers

When did the Council
transparent and less secretive, what were the proposals, and what was the outcome of the discussion?

last consider proposals to make the conduct of its legislative business more

What plan does the Presidency have to introduce greater transparency into the work of the Council and to
reduce the secrecy with which it conducts its consideration of legislative proposals?

Reply

(10 July 2001)

Following the suggestions made by the Secretary-General in his Third report on the implementation of
Council Decision 93/731/EC on public access to Council documents, the Council examined whether
certain categories of Council documents, in particular those concerning the legislative process, could be
systematically made available to the public on the Internet.

The discussions within the Council lead to the adoption by the Council on 9 April 2001 of a Decision on
making certain categories of Council documents available to the public. The purpose is to put on the
Internet as many Council documents as possible without waiting for requests from the public for access to
those documents.

Under this Decision, which will take effect on 1 May 2001, the General Secretariat of the Council will
make the following documents available to the public via the Council(cid:146)s Internet website (http://ue.eu.int),
provided that they are not classified:

(cid:129) documents not authored by the Council or a Member State, which have been made public by their

author or with his agreement;

(cid:129) provisional agendas of meetings of the various formations of the Council;

(cid:129) any text adopted by the Council and intended to be published in the Official Journal.

Moreover, provided that they are clearly not covered by any of the exceptions laid down in Article 4 of
Council Decision 93/731/EC, the General Secretariat may also make the following documents available to
the public as soon as they have been circulated: provisional agendas of committees and working parties, as
well as information notes, reports, progress reports and reports on the state of discussions in the Council
or one of its preparatory bodies which do not reflect individual positions of delegations, excluding Legal
Service opinions and contributions.

With regard to legislative documents,
i.e. documents concerning the examination and adoption of
a legislative act within the meaning of Article 7 of the Council(cid:146)s Rules of Procedure, the following
categories of documents will be made available to the public:

(cid:129) cover notes and copies of letters concerning legislative acts addressed to the Council by other

institutions or bodies of the European Union or by a Member State;

(cid:129) notes submitted to Coreper and/or to the Council for approval ((cid:145)I/A(cid:146) and (cid:145)A(cid:146) Item Notes), as well as the

draft legislative acts to which they refer;

(cid:129) decisions adopted by the Council during the Codecision procedure and joint texts approved by the

Conciliation Committee.

Moreover, after adoption of one of the acts during the Codecision procedure or final adoption of the act
concerned the General Secretariat will make available to the public any legislative documents relating to
this act which were drawn up before this decision and which are not covered by any of the exceptions laid
down in Article 4, paragraph 1 of Decision 93/731/EC, such as information notes, reports, progress reports

C 340 E/40

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.12.2001

and reports on the state of discussions in the Council or in one of its preparatory bodies ((cid:145)outcomes of
proceedings(cid:146)), excluding Legal Service opinions and contributions.

It should be noted that under this Decision a Member State may request the General Secretariat not to
make available to the public a document emanating from that Member State.

This decision by the Council will prejudge neither the application of Council Decision 93/731/EC nor the
content of the act concerning the general principles and limits governing the right of access to documents
which has to be adopted pursuant to Article 255(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

(2001/C 340 E/045)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0509/01

by Charles Tannock (PPE-DE), Philip Bushill-Matthews (PPE-DE),
Den Dover (PPE-DE), Jacqueline Foster (PPE-DE), Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE),
Roger Helmer (PPE-DE), Bashir Khanbhai (PPE-DE), Neil Parish (PPE-DE),
Robert Sturdy (PPE-DE) and Theresa Villiers (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(22 February 2001)

Subject: The role of the Economic and Social Committee and the prioritising of expenditures within the

European Union

Can the Commission state what role it sees the Economic and Social Committee (Ecosoc) as having now
that the European Parliament is directly elected, and whether it believes that the continued expenditure of
hundreds of millions of euros of taxpayers(cid:146) money on the Committee is justified and likely to command
the support of the European taxpayer if knowledge of these levels of expenditure was better publicised?

In particular, in view of Commission President Prodi(cid:146)s statement last year to the effect that the European
Commission needed more funds to carry out its core tasks and the Commission(cid:146)s refusal at the end of last
year to take on certain new tasks until it had received additional funds, does the Commission feel that if it
cannot find funds through elimination of wasteful expenditure within the Commission that it should
suggest to the Member States that they agree to wind down the Economic and Social Committee and use
part of the savings (including, where appropriate, the transfer of staff from Ecosoc) to pay for the
additional tasks which the Commission may in the future be asked to carry out?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(10 April 2001)

The Commission takes the view that, pursuant to the Treaty of Rome and its successive amendments, the
Economic and Social Committee (ESC) is an institutional body with advisory status whose role has not
changed as a result of direct elections to Parliament. Furthermore, under the Treaty of Nice, the Committee
is defined as a body consisting of representatives of the various economic and social components of
organised civil society.

Its operational costs are justified by virtue of its consultation role, which is compulsory where the Treaty
so provides; the Committee may also be consulted by Parliament. The relevant expenditure forms part of
the Community budget, which is in the public domain.

The Commission is in the process of reorganising its expenditure priorities in the light of the strategic
objectives contained in its programme. It has no intention of financing its new tasks from any savings
made through cutbacks to the activities of the other institutions or institutional bodies, including the ESC.