Presseschau: Mangelnde Transparenz im Rat der Mitgliedstaaten

22. Juli 2019

THE PARLIAMENT MAGAZINE

MEPs raise ‘grave’ concerns over Council transparency, by Martin Banks

„A cross-party group of MEPs have voiced their “grave concern” about the “opacity” of the Council, branding the institution “a veritable black box” which has been lagging far behind the Parliament and Commission on transparency.

The letter to Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipila, seen by this website, is signed by, among others, Heidi Hautala, Jo Leinen and Martin Schirdewan.

They want lobby transparency to be “placed at the heart” of Finland’s EU presidency.

Hautala, Leinen, Schirdewan and their colleagues say they hope to “foster a wider public debate about ways to boost democracy and accountability in the Council as well as in the Member State governments it represents.”

Schirdewan added, “The continuing lobbying power of big corporates at the EU level is outrageous. Especially the Council is a big black hole when it comes to transparency. It is high time it stepped up its game and became more accountable to EU citizens.”…“

The full-text article can be found here.