Open Government in the EUNews on changes in the rules related to EU open government.
The Lisbon Treaty recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. The Treaty, which laid the fundament for a reformed European Union, entered into force with the promise that European decision making would become more transparent, and therefore more democratic. On the tenth birthday, Maarten Hillebrandt considers what has come of these ambitions.
In view of today’s challenges, is the EU’s approach to transparency sufficient, given that it is an atypical constitutional structure exercising sovereign powers across multiple levels of government and in constant need of explaining itself? Herwig Hofmann and Päivi Leino-Sandberg see room for reform.
The Council’s ongoing transparency overhaul continues to attract public attention.
On 20 February, the Dutch parliament adopted a motion concerning the EU’s transparency policy.
The motion underlines the fundamental democratic importance of transparency as well as the risk-sharing and redistributive character of the Eurozone, followed by a request to the Venice Commission to issue an advice on “possible shortcomings and possible improvements to the democratic oversight of the European Union and the Eurozone by the Dutch parliament”. In particular, it requests the Venice Commission to focus on transparency of the legislative process, particularly trilogues, the EU’s budget and other financial resources, the Eurogroup and the ESM, the ECB, and the oversight of financial institutions under the Banking Union.