Fwd: EC draft common position on access to EU documents

[Peter Kuhm <peter.kuhm@plus.at>]

-> http://www.statewatch.org/news/jan01/02newcoun.htm

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Council's draft common position on access to EU documents:
French Presidency bequeathes Sweden a "poisoned chalice"

(revised 3.1.01)

At the meeting of COREPER (the body comprising the permanent
representatives of the 15 EU governments in Brussels) on 18 December the
French Presidency of the EU presented its final draft of the Council's
draft common position on access to EU documents. The dilemna for the new
Swedish Presidency (from 1.1.01) is how far it can reverse the current
"consensus" among the EU member states and meet its own commitment to
meaningful freedom of information.

Each new version of the Council's draft common position under the French
Presidency is worse than the previous one, and the 18 December version is
no exception: 1. It would remove rights of access to EU documents under
national freedom of information laws and centralise decisions in Brussels.
2. EU institutions would have the discretion to refuse access to documents
until adopted. 3. EU member states would have a veto over access to
documents submitted.

[..]

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