Public access to documents

The EU Parliament has examined a report on citizens' access to European Union documents. The aim is to strengthen the right of access to documents enshrined in the EU treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and to further improve the transparency of the European institutions. The report assesses current developments in access to EU documents and identifies existing problems. These include, among other things, long processing times for applications, sometimes very restrictive classifications of documents and differences in the proactive publication of information by EU institutions. These points should be checked more closely and improved in the future. The MPs are in favor of making openness the rule and only allowing secrecy in justified exceptional cases. There is also a requirement to make decisions on requests for access to documents more quickly and comprehensibly. Access to documents from legislative procedures, trilogues or international agreements should also be made easier. In addition, the publication of documents in public registers should be expanded to give citizens and interest groups a better insight into political decision-making processes. Overall, the report aims to strengthen transparency, participation and democratic accountability within the EU institutions. Attention: The voting results shown on the right only reflect the voting behavior of the 96 German MEPs and not that of all 720 MEPs. The report was adopted overall with 602 votes in favour, nine against and eight abstentions. Of the German MEPs, 78 voted for it and Sven Simon (EPP) voted against it. There was one abstention from Andreas Schwab (EPP).

Vote breakdown