Brussels, 15/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 14 July, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, called on the three European institutions to publish documents on negotiations on legislative texts in the framework of trilogues.
Further to her investigations, O'Reilly reached the conclusion that the institutions should provide access to documents stating the dates and agendas of trilogues, the positions of the Council and the European Parliament on the Commission's proposals and the names of the decision-makers who attend trilogue meetings. The Ombudsman also calls for the documents that track the main stages of the process to be published as soon as possible after the negotiations end.
“Trilogues are efficient, allowing 85% of laws to be agreed at an early stage. However, it is difficult to find out when trilogues are taking place, what is being discussed and by whom (…). My enquiry concerns the right balance between the public interest in transparency and the public interest in an effective and efficient legislative process”, O'Reilly states in a press release. She goes on to stress that such progress in transparency in the legislative process will allow the legislators “to have the political space they need to negotiate, deliberate and come to agreement”.
Finally, the Ombudsman proposes that the institutions: - make a list of documents presented at trilogue meetings available to the public; - set in place a single database that is easy to use, in which all information referred to above is published.
O'Reilly opened her investigation into the transparency of trilogues in May 2015. During her enquiries, she gathered opinions from the three institutions regarding the issue and inspected files from trilogue meetings on the 'mortgage credit' directive and the regulation on clinical trials. She received 51 contributions to the public consultation opened on the issue, including five responses from national parliaments, two from members of the European Parliament, ten from NGOs and seven from professional associations.
The Ombudsman has asked the institutions to report back to her by 15 December 2016 on the measures taken to meet her recommendations. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)