By Gemma Lougheed - 13th October 2005
The British presidency will soon propose that the European Council open up its legislative meetings to the public.
This follows UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s comments last June when he claimed that there is a strong case for the council to legislate in public.
“The presidency has already made clear its commitment to transparency in Council meetings and we are currently exploring ways of achieving this,” said a senior UK presidency spokesperson.
“The plan is to bring forward a proposal shortly after we have discussed it with our member state colleagues.”
For a proposal to be carried out, the majority of member states would need to agree.
The European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros has argued in favour of such a move and urged the council to reconsider its, so far, refusal to meet publicly when taking legislative action.
A council official said that the council has up to now insisted that any degree of openness in meetings is a political choice made by member states.
“So long as the constitutional treaty has not come into force, there is no obligation on the council to open up meetings to the public,” said the official.
Others argue that it is merely a matter of the council’s internal policy.
Meanwhile, the UK presidency has had another blow to its image after European Parliament President, Josep Borrell wrote to UK Europe minister Douglas Alexander asking him why the presidency takes weeks to answer written questions.
Unlike previous presidencies, the UK is conferring with all 25 EU member states before replying to written queries.
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