Open Government in the EUIn a recent court judgment (De Capitani v Council), the General Court of the EU finds that the Council erroneously relied on the access to documents regulation (Regulation 1049/2001) to refuse access to Council working party documents pertaining to an ongoing legislative decision-making procedure in order to protect the negotiation process, Dutch Foreign Ministry experts observe.
Three recent cases mark an end to the lull in access litigation against the Council of recent years.
Expert committee voices concern about the consequences of informal Council document category for transparency law and the democratic legitimacy of EU legislation.
A new publication in the Journal of Common Market Studies by TrUE project researcher Maarten Hillebrandt demonstrates how informality may help explain anomalies in Council transparency policy.
