New definition of 'documents' worries NGOs

摘要

Institutional Relations and Communications Strategy Commissioner Margot Wallstrom's proposals on public access to the documents of the EU institutions are dying hard. During a public hearing in the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee, on 2 June in Brussels, Wallstrom listened to the animated criticisms of NGO representatives and the European ombudsman. "No element of this proposal seems to make more documents accessible. It could even restrict them," said Ian Harden, the ombudsman's secretary-general, taking up the announcement given the same morning by Nikiforos Diainandouros. "Reducing the definition of what a document is would be moving backwards, and it is the Commission's choice," he continued, believing that "its discretionary power would be reinforced" by the new text.