Strasbourg, 16/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Ombudsman is requesting the ending of prior authorisation for publications written by European officials. This is the tone of the letter he has just sent to Commissioner Neil Kinnock, in charge of administrative reform. "The abolition of censorship would only create a more open atmosphere of trust and respect in the EU administration, as well as demonstrating respect for the Charter of Fundamental Rights" of Article 11 of the Charter, which recognises the right to freedom of expression, explains the Jacob Söderman. "Is there any real need to demonstrate this kind of mistrust to a skilled and dedicated personnel?" He adds that an overwhelming majority of the Community staff write articles and give speeches in the true interest of the administration. Experience shows that disloyal civil servants ignore the provision for censorship and publish anyway. An official who writes negative articles that are not based on the truth and real intentions of the administration must, of course, face his or her responsibilities.
According to research by the Ombudsman services, this type of censorship exists in the UK and Greece but has been abolished in Portugal and Spain when authoritarian rule was overthrown. In Denmark, Sweden and Finland, it has not existed for a very long time. In France the prior authorisation mechanism is ambiguous and often presented to the official as a way of protecting himself against the administration for which he works. There is no censorship in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany or Italy either.