EU to turn transparent

The European Commission is set to adopt a “transparency initiative” next Thursday.

European Commissioner for administrative affairs, audit and anti-fraud, Siim Kallas has called for more openness on issues in relation to the public.

“Transparency is a strong objective of this commission, and I hope that this Thursday the college will adopt a ‘European transparency initiative’ to push forward transparency on a set of concrete issues in relation to the broad public,” said Kallas in a speech on Tuesday.

The Kallas move follows controversy surrounding a €20,000 family holiday taken by European Commision President José Manuel Barroso in 2004 with friend and shipping magnate Spyros Latsis.

In order for the commission to increase its efficiency and transparency Kallas proposes that information technology should play a big role to create an ‘e-commission’.

“It is about how the commission can deliver better, more cost effective, transparent and secure services to staff, to our partner administrations, to business and citizens,” explained Kallas.   

“By moving towards an e-commission, the administration relies increasingly in IT and systems and must hence receive assurance of stable, if not decreasing, risk exposure.”

“I envisage a system where the building knows I have just arrived, my screen recognizes me and gives me - and only me - access to all data and information I need to know for my work.”

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