On 22 March the EU’s General Court had ruled, in the case de Capitani v Parliament, that Parliament must in principle grant access, on specific request, to documents relating to ongoing trilogues. Sven Giegold asked Parliament President Tajani now for all 127 ongoing trilogues to publish the 4 column documents pro-actively. These documents contain the positions of Commission, Parliament and Council as well as compromises achieved between them. Short ago, Parliament’s Legal Affairs committee (JURI) decided not to appeal against this ruling, thereby accepting it finally. Yet, according to our counting, only in 4 out of 127 ongoing Trilogues, 4 column tables have been published following specific requests. In a letter to Parliament’s president Antonio Tajani, Sven Giegold asked to publish all 4 column-documents pro-actively.
MEP Sven Giegold, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on transparency, accountability and integrity commented:
“Parliament should not endanger its standing on transparency and publish all Trilog documents pro-actively. Parliament, as the chamber of EU citizens, has to lead by exemplary transparency. A king’s attitude waiting for citizens to ask for transparency as a favor does not fit our times of online transparency. Public access to trilogue documents should be a pleasant walk, not an obstacle race.
In my over 100 trilogues too often lobbyists representing wealthy interests got hold of negotiation documents even before MEPs did. The EU treaties demand equal attention of EU institutions for all citizens, public online access to legislative documents best demonstrates this equality. With populists stalking us for weaknesses to exploit for their attacks on Europe, we have to champion on European values of democratic transparency.”
OUR LETTER REQUESTING TRANSPARENCY of 4-column documents
Re: transparency of 4-column documents from trilogues
To: President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani
Dear President Tajani,
On 22 March 2018, the EU’s General Court ruled in the case de Capitani v Parliament. The General court decided that the European Parliament must in principle grant access, on specific request, to documents relating to ongoing trilogues. Our own committee of Legal Affairs (JURI) decided now not to appeal against this decision and thereby accepted it. The court case threatened to shed a bad light on our institution that otherwise has been found by Transparency International to be one of the most transparent public institution in all of the EU. Now, the court’s ruling is to be applied in letter and spirit. Yet few 4-column tables of ongoing trilogues have been published. Only in 4 out of 127 ongoing trilogues, according to our counting, Parliament published 4-column documents following specific requests. To honour the citizen’s right of access to documents of ongoing legislative negotiations, I would like to ask you to publish the 4-column documents of all 127 ongoing trilogues pro-actively.
Some colleagues already declared to ask for publication of 4 column documents in dossiers for which they were chosen to represent Parliament. The public might take this as reason to ask for more and more documents in specific requests. Transparency will eventually be achieved either way. Yet, I would like to ask you to use this as a chance for sending a signal: Parliament, as the chamber of citizens, should lead by exemplary transparency.
With kind regards
Sven Giegold
BACKGROUND: where to request documents
The NGO Access Info Europe allows for a simple way to ask for documents from the Parliament: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/body/european_parliament
BACKGROUND: list of ongoing trilogues
PUBLIC 4 column documents exist for these 4 trilogues
2 tables public
European defence industrial development programme
1 table public
Binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States from 2021 to 2030
5 tables public
Public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents
6 tables public
NO PUBLIC 4 column documents exist for these 123 trilogues
Further macro-financial assistance to Ukraine
European Medicines Agency (EMA): location of the seat
European Banking Authority (EBA): location of the seat
Union Civil Protection Mechanism: prevention; European Civil Protection Pool; rescEU
Internal market in natural gas: pipelines to and from third countries
Statistics of goods transport by inland waterways. Codification
Insolvency proceedings: replacing Annex A to the Regulation
Harmonisation of gross national income (GNI) at market prices
Safeguarding competition in air transport
Use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road
New heavy-duty vehicles: monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption
Single digital gateway to provide information, procedures, assistance and problem solving services
Respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications
Countering money laundering by criminal law
Controls on cash entering or leaving the Union
Mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders
Common rules for the operation of air services in the Community: technical adaptation
Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of border checks
Proportionality test before adoption of new regulation of professions
European services e-card and related administrative facilities
Legal and operational framework of the European services e-card
Environmental reporting: procedural rules
Promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. Recast
Energy performance of buildings
Common rules for the internal market in electricity. Recast
Internal market for electricity. Recast
European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators. Recast
Risk-preparedness in the electricity sector
Governance of the energy union
Framework for the recovery and resolution of central counterparties
European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS): Europol tasks
European travel information and authorisation system (ETIAS)
European Electronic Communications Code. Recast
Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications
Financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union: simplification
European statistics relating to persons and households
European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound)
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)
Multi-annual plan for demersal stocks in the North Sea and the fisheries exploiting those stocks
Common procedure for international protection in the Union
Reception of applicants for international protection. Recast
Audiovisual media services: changing market realities
Third countries whose nationals are subject to or exempt from a visa requirement: Kosovo
European Union Agency for Asylum
Disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches
Making available on the market of CE marked fertilising products
Conservation of fishery resources and protection of marine ecosystems through technical measures
Posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services
Approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers
Contracts for the online and other distance sales of goods
Contracts for the supply of digital content
Accessibility requirements for products and services
Common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Union Aviation Safety Agency
Packaging and packaging waste: resource efficiency. Circular economy package
Waste: resource efficiency. Circular economy package
Landfill of waste: resource efficiency. Circular economy package
International protection: EU common list of safe countries of origin
Medicinal products for human use: authorisation and supervision
Medicated feed: manufacture, placing on the market and use
Organic production and labelling of organic products
Union Code on Visas (Visa Code). Recast
Structural measures improving the resilience of EU credit institutions
Reduction of pollutant emissions from road vehicles
Union legal framework for customs infringements and sanctions
EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust)
Implementation of the Single European Sky. Recast
Protection against dumped or subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Community
Air transport: enforcement of passenger rights; air carrier liability limits
Market surveillance of products
Gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges
Protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein. Recast
Single Market: simplifying the transfer of motor vehicles registered in another Member State
Allocation of slots at EU airports: common rules. Recast
Fish stock conservation: multiannual plan for the Baltic salmon stock
Car industry: tyres for motor vehicles and their trailers, fitting. Codification
This list of 127 ongoing Trilogues is available online at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/search/search.do?searchTab=y
with selected search options “procedure type” = “interinstitutional ordinary legislative procedure” AND “procedure status” = “ongoing” AND “key events” = “vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading”
To find those Trilogues with 4 column tables published, you have to search at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb/search/simpleSearchHome.htm?language=EN with a click on “more criteria” for the title of the dossier as “Keyword” and “Register Reference” = “NEGO_CT” (this abbreviation appears in the title of 4 column documents, capital letters are decisive in this search form).