Since September 2014, the Open Government in the EU blog scans English-language online news outlets for news on EU transparency. Below, you can find the news digest for 2021.
Central topics in news coverage were opacities caused by the corona pandemic and the rule of law crisis, and the potential reform of the EU’s access to documents regulation.
The fanning out of transparency
In 2021, a total of 116 English-language news reports were identified as relating to a diverse range of EU transparency issues. Scandal and scrutiny remained bread and butter topics of reporting related to transparency. Thus, we find continued critical reporting on evergreen topics such as EU expenditure, the decisional opacity of the Council, and various EU bodies’ engagement with access to document requests. In 2021, the case of Frontex and its engagement with external scrutiny particularly stood out, in what may be described as a devastating year for the agency’s accountability image.
In other cases, specific new policy probes or legislative proposals expanded the scope of interest beyond the ordinary. For example, new efforts and perceived failures to regulate the transparency of corporate taxation attracted some media attention, as did the negotiations and subsequent launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe with regard to its publicity and participation format. The classic high-publicity subject of lobbying and its regulation reached a peak in 2021 with the conclusion of an interinstitutional agreement complemented by various internal guidelines.
However, three areas particularly stood out as the mediatised transparency topics of 2021: the response to the coronavirus pandemic and its various consequences, contemporary challenges to European democracy, and discussions on the future of access to documents regulation.
EU transparency in 2021: coronavirus, democracy, and legislative reform
Coronavirus
The second year of the coronavirus pandemic had clear reverberations with questions of transparent governance, which were regularly covered by the media. Having finalised the development of vaccines by the start of the year, questions initially revolved around the speed of rollout and related global competition for jabs. Gradually however, the focus shifted to accountability questions of the opacity of the EU’s early response and procurement process, the effects of remote decision making on traceability and the document trail, and potential future risks related to questions such as RRF expenditure and opportunities for press scrutiny.
Democracy
2021 also was the year in which the EU was inescapably confronted with issues related to the Union’s democratic functioning and growing challenges to various democratic freedoms. The rule of law began to cross paths with transparency, as outsiders sought to scrutinise the EU’s response to conflicts with Hungary and Poland over rule of law conditionality for obtaining EU funding. Inter alia, media covered a conflict over the non-disclosure of EU legal advice in a legislative procedure, a confidential anti-corruption probe implicating the Hungarian government, and the Council and Commission’s general ambiguity on the subject. Moreover, the first steps were taken towards regulating the transparency of political communications through social media and targeted political advertising.
Regulation 1049/2001
In 2021, Regulation 1049/2001 on access to documents celebrated its twentieth anniversary. This fact was marked by various (online or hybrid) events, including a well-publicised conference by the European Ombudsman in November. In general, questions surrounding the practical effectiveness of the regulation have been gaining growing attention in media reports, which has led to the exposure of mass deletion of emails, and questions about the functioning of registers in specific and the access regime more generally. This has most recently led to the reopening of the revision discussion, after years of stagnation.
Overview of news reports
A chronological overview of media reports as tracked by this blog can be found below.
Most recent news reports on EU transparency can also be found at the bottom of this page.
See also the news report digests for 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 (first quarter, second quarter, and second half), and 2014 (last quarter).
January-March
12/01/21// EU Law Live: Op-Ed: “New Year, New Transparency Register?”
13/01/21// Politico: Jourová: Big Tech’s Trump ban ‘dangerous for free speech’
14/01/21// Investigate Europe: Interview with Leo Hoffman-Axthelm of Transparency International
18/01/21// EUObserver: Frontex spent €94,000 on a dinner in Warsaw
18/01/21// EUObserver: Frontex and Europol pledge greater access to documents
22/01/21// Investigate Europe: A year into our investigation, the Council has some answers
26/01/21// European Interest: Debate on top 50 EU money recipients: MEPs push for more transparency
08/02/21// EUObserver: Portugal vs Germany clash on EU corporate tax avoidance
09/02/21// Politico: Brussels Playbook: COVID transparency
01/03/21// EUObserver: ‘Big Five’ tech giants spent €19m lobbying EU in 2020
04/03/21// Euractiv: Talks on EU corporate tax transparency law to start ‘very soon’
04/03/21// Euronews: EU member states push forward with new tax transparency rules
09/03/21// Euractiv: Closed-door copyright meetings ‘taint’ EU transparency, MEPs warn
10/03/21// Arab News: EU says ‘transparency’ a must to lure investments
10/03/21// EUObserver: Report exposes tobacco industry’s EU lobbying tactics
12/03/21// Republic World: EU Extends COVID Vaccine Export Transparency System
13/03/21// Republic World: Kurz Urges Transparency In EU Vaccine Distribution
23/03/21// EUObserver: Frontex redacts its hospitality spending figures
23/03/21// Bloomberg: Corporate Tax Transparency Inches Toward Reality in EU Talks
27/03/21// Food Safety News: EU rules on risk assessment come into force; reviews continue
29/03/21// EUObserver: Frontex is its own worst enemy
31/03/21// EU Law Live: Ombudsman’s view on transparency in Council of EU’s COVID-19 decision-making
April-June
02/04/21// Euronews: Five years since the Panama Papers, what is EU doing to tackle tax abuse?
10/04/21// Politico: Remembering the Euroskeptic Brussels actually liked
15/04/21// EUObserver: MEPs reject greater transparency in hidden vote
19/04/21// Euractiv: EU institutions launch online platform of Conference on the Future of Europe
19/04/21// EUObserver: Frontex guilty of inflating legal fees against activists
22/04/21// Politico: Günther Oettinger: Europe’s Mr. Revolving Door
22/04/21// Politico: Brussels Playbook: Council defeat
23/04/21// Politico: Brussels Playbook: Rule of law follow-up
23/04/21// EU Law Live: Council publishes report on implementation of Access to Documents Regulation
29/04/21// EUObserver: Leading MEP: ‘anti-democratic’ to meet only registered lobbyists
07/05/21// EUObserver: MEPs win battle for bigger citizens’ voice at Conference
12/05/21// EUObserver: Fidesz MEP oversees FOI appeals on disgraced Fidesz MEP
15/05/21// Economist: The power of lobbyists is growing in Brussels and Berlin
17/05/21// Euractiv: Brussels reporters worried about Commission’s post-pandemic press ‘ideas’
21/05/21// EUObserver: New EU ethics body takes shape
26/05/21// IEU Monitoring: EU Parliament: Time for a new statute for the European Ombudsman
31/05/21// Politico: Ex-Google boss slams transparency rules in Europe’s AI bill
01/06/21// Ends Europe: NGOs rejoin EU green finance panel after new transparency pledge
02/06/21// Reuters: EU reaches deal on tax transparency for multinational firms
07/06/21// Financial Review: Tax transparency is just the start
07/06/21// Politico: Brussels Playbook: Transparency? Oh please!
09/06/21// EU Law Live: Ombudsman approves CINEA’s reply concerning complaint on public access
10/06/21// EU Law Live: European Ombudsman publishes annual report
11/06/21// EUObserver: Liberal MEPs under fire over Babiš abstention
11/06/21// EUObserver: MEP office expenses kept secret on dubious evidence
21/06/21// EU Law Live: Conference on the Future of Europe plenary meets for the first time
21/06/21// EU Law Live: Council paves way for revision of European Ombudsman’s statute
24/06/21// EU Law Live: European Ombudsman: New Statute adopted by European Parliament
24/06/21// Politico: How ambassadors took over the EU
July-September
31/08/21// Euractiv: Commission won’t monitor lobbying access despite growing Big Tech pressure
13/09/21// Euractiv: Commission asks Greece for transparency on pushbacks to release migration funds
23/09/21: Euractiv: Civil society calls for transparency in Commission’s rule of law report
24/09/21// EUObserver: EU states sign ‘transparency pledge’
October-December
05/10/21// Politico: The web of connections behind Brussels lobbying
07/10/21// Devex: NGOs call out Team Europe for lack of transparency
07/10/21// Science Business: MEPs call for closer scrutiny of EU’s €6B health emergency authority
08/10/21// EU Law Live: Amendment to Aarhus Regulation officially published
12/10/21// Undercurrent: Calls for greater transparency over EU fishing control efforts
20/10/21// EUObserver: Ombudsman seeks clarification in ‘revolving-door’ inquiry
26/10/21// Euractiv: Commission dismisses calls for more transparency in drafting CAP plans
12/11/21// Politico: EU Influence: EU transparency
15/11/21// EUObserver: Opinion: 20 years of public access to EU documents: time for makeover?
16/11/21// EUObserver: EU Commission promises only minor update on transparency
17/11/21// EU Law Live: Ombudsman calls for modernisation of Access to Documents Regulation
19/11/21// EUObserver: New EIB transparency policy hit by immediate criticism
24/11/21// Reuters: EU rules aim for more transparency in targeted political ads
01/12/21// Statewatch: EU: Spin it to win it: Frontex seeks public relations support
20/12/21// Social Europe: Towards transparency by design in the EU
22/12/21// EUObserver: Opinion: Where is the transparency in the EU €2 trillion recovery?
