Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-16-Speech-4-019"
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"en.20001116.2.4-019"2
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"Mr President, Article 255 of the Treaty is now, therefore, to be implemented and, with the Cashman report, we are moving a long way in the right direction, but not far enough. All the same, I should very much like to commend the considerable work Mr Cashman has put into this report. As I see it, it is one of the most important pieces of work done this year. The statement by the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport, too, in fact goes farther than the Commission had proposed. We drew inspiration from the Nordic models for transparency in administration, for the Nordic countries have a very long tradition of having the right of access to documents. Naturally enough, it has also been the task of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport to emphasise that the language in the rules must be as clear, simple and understandable as possible. In the same way, we have also pointed out that openness and transparency are the best tools for solving the problems which may arise as a result of cultural and linguistic differences between the Member States, on this issue too.
As I see it, right of access to documents is an important part of the EU’s information and communication policy. All investigations have, of course, revealed the distance between the European citizen and Brussels, and people themselves think they know too little about the EU. What they learn is at the media’s discretion or depends upon special interest groups, and they often feel powerless over and against the institutions. Now, they will be given the opportunity also to acquire some insight into circumstances which do not receive the special attention of the mass media and special interest groups and, in that way, they will be better able to participate in the open and democratic debate which is so important to confidence in the EU. I hope the Commission will make a big effort to inform people, including the man in the street, about this legislation, for the media and the special interest groups will no doubt find their own way to the documents they are interested in. I also hope that the Council and the Commission can give us a commitment today to continuing to deal with this issue in a positive way so that we might, as quickly as possible, start making the necessary changes to the business procedures in such a way as to benefit people and the image of the institutions. At a hearing in September in the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs, we learned that it takes ten years for an administration to change mentality, so the sooner we get started the better."@en1
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