Brussels, 03/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 9 November, the European Commission is expected to publish a communication on improving transparency at the European institutions. The communication will take note of the inter-services report on measures already taken by the European Commission, and assess technical, legal and financial options for introducing more transparency in priority areas outlined by the European Commissioner for the Administration and Fighting Fraud, Siim Kallas, namely access to information about recipients of EU aid, NGO and special interest group activities, and the ethics of people working at the European institutions, see EUROPE 8950). The communication and report will be submitted to the other European institutions and interested parties to fuel a debate on improving transparency. Early next year, the European Commission will be publishing a Green Paper outlining the results of the consultation.
1) NGO and special interest group activities. Brussels, after Washington, is the city in the world with the second highest number of special interest groups (15,000). The Commission regrets the lack of any compulsory registration of such groups or codes of conduct on their relations with the general public.
2) Increasing transparency on the recipients of EU funding. In areas of the EU budget coming under shared management, like farm subsidies and the Structural Funds, the Commission wants to encourage Member States to publish the names of beneficiaries of such aid. Initially, it may suggest combining information from the European Commission's website with information supplied by the Member States. Next, it may suggest negotiating with Member States the idea of making it compulsory to publish information about projects and individuals benefitting from EU aid. Such information is currently provided by the UK, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and some regions of Spain. In an interview with French newspaper La Tribune on 3 November, Kallas said the publication of such information would make it possible to move beyond general suspicion to feed useful debate. He said that in some of the Member States to have published this information, it had sparked debate when it came to light that the people receiving funding were not necessarily the ones most in need of it. The Commission already has all information the recipients of direct aid and EU refunds (for control and auditing purposes) but is not allowed to publish it. Siim Kallas said he was counting on strong pressure from public opinion to make such information available in the Member States since this is an issue for the credibility of national and European authorities alike and it was important to be able to be accountable to citizens and explain where their money is being spent.
3) Ethics of European institution officials. The Commission wants to moot the idea of an inter-institutional ethics committee, which could give its opinion on how to resolve cases of corruption and fraud. This idea was included in the 2000 White Paper on reforming the European Commission. The idea is to be able to discuss problems arising in the institutions among the institutions themselves. Polls reveal when scandals break out in any of the European institutions, all institutions get tarred with the same brush as far as public opinion is concerned.
The European Commission's action to boost transparency is part of the Commission's Plan D (D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate) unveiled by Commissioner Margot Wallstrom on 13 October 2005 to restore the legitimacy of the EU institutions with the general public (see EUROPE 9048) following the French and Dutch rejections of the European Constitution.