By Chris Jones - 14th June 2006
Britain is heading for a showdown with its EU partners over plans to open up decision-making to greater public scrutiny.
Proposals put forward by the Austrian EU presidency for discussion at this week’s EU summit would make all deliberations on “co-decision” legislative acts, where the European parliament has a say, open to observers.
But the UK, which originally led the call for greater transparency in the wake of the ‘no’ votes on the EU constitution last year, is concerned that sensitive negotiations will now be carried out in the margins of ministerial meetings, away from the public gaze.
UK foreign minister Margaret Beckett, speaking ahead of her first EU summit meeting yesterday, said that the Austrian proposals were a political “gesture”.
“Opening up every aspect of council [of ministers] deliberations as presently proposed may give a veneer of greater democracy and efficiency. But my firm belief is that it would just mean backroom deals done away from the cameras.”
“[It would mean] an EU less open, not more; and possibly less effective to boot.”
The Austrian proposals would allow national governments or EU ambassadors to decide in individual cases that deliberations should not be opened to the public, and this ‘safety clause’ is likely to play a key role in the summit negotiations.
A UK official said that London still supported Austrian proposals to grant public access for initial proposals made by commission and for final voting deliberations, but stressed that there was disagreement over the proposal to automatically broadcast all co-decision dossiers.
“The UK approach is not very different, but is significantly different. The question is whether co-decision is automatically open or not,” he said.
“There is a balance to be struck between transparency and efficiency. We need to proceed with some deliberation and look at experience of the last changes that were made.”
Britain has called first for a review of recent changes to council deliberations before taking any final decision.
Pressure is growing on EU leaders to open up their meetings, with both the European parliament and the commission seeing it as a key element in their efforts to reconnect with citizens after the constitution disaster.
But European ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros believes that the British-led moves to keep some debates in private will not be enough to satisfy public opinion.
“The Austrian proposals are a step in the right direction but might still allow some legislative debates to be held in secret. Citizens will only be satisfied when all legislative debates are open to the public,” he said this week.
Diamandouros submitted a report to parliament in October 2005 calling on the council of ministers to meet in public whenever it acts in its legislative capacity. The report was endorsed by parliament in April this year.
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