Brussels, 27/07/2000 (Agence Europe) - During the COREPER meeting, the EU 15 reached, Wednesday, an agreement on a decision that foresees an exception to the present procedure for public access to document for a certain number of texts linked to European Security and Defence policy (ESDP) that are not on the public register of Council documents, instituted following the 1993 decision on public access to documents. EUROPE recalls that in this system, all the documents are listed on the register and are accessible, unless due to a contrary decision, to all people who so desire. The Council has only used the ability to oppose the transmitting of documents in 13% of cases.
Only 3% of documents connected with ESDP, classified confidential, secret or top secret, are concerned by this measure that none the less remains very important in the framework of relations between the EU and NATO. This decision, which must still be confirmed in the framework of the written procedure, was necessary to enable the circulation of information between the two organisations and particularly awaited by the American authorities who had doubts over the ability of the European institution to guarantee confidentiality of information in the military field. The EU High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, who also ensures the role of Secretary General for the Council, had proposed to exclude all the document linked to ESDP, but the Member States felt that only classified documents should be the object of this exception. The Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and, to a lesser extent, Denmark would have preferred to maintain the present procedure making things more difficult. The appeal procedure against a refusal made to a request for access to documents would have, in fact, lead a classified document to circulate between too many hands within the same institution.