The European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros today raises the question, whether the EU really is committed to openness and transparency. 

"The Commission's proposals would mean access to fewer, not more, documents. This raises fundamental issues of principle about the EU's commitment to openness and transparency," he says in a pressrelease this morning.

The Ombudsman urges the European Parliament to use it's role as co-legislator to "defend the European Union’s commitment to transparency and the citizens’ right of access to EU documents," and he emphasises two main points:

    *  The Commission’s proposed definition of a document would mean that, in many cases, citizens could only apply for access to a document if it appeared in a register. The Ombudsman considers this a "step backwards for transparency".
    * The overall effect of the proposed revisions would be that the Commission could share documents informally with a limited number of favoured external recipients of its choice, without having to give public access to them.

The press release is issued ahead of a hearing on the draft reform at the European Parliament today, where not only the Ombudsman but also a number of other players express serious warnings.

Brigitte Alfter