euobserver.com - Negotiators remain far apart on new rules to govern which internal EU documents can be released for public scrutiny.
Jakob Alvi, the Danish EU presidency spokesman, told EUobserver on Tuesday (22 May) that member states and the European Parliament rapporteur on the dossier, British center-left MEP Michael Cashman, remain poles apart after initial talks, set to continue on Wednesday.
"He made it clear the negotiating mandate that we [member states] have is not something he can accept ... and the same goes the other way around," Alvi noted.
EU countries agreed their position earlier this month in a paper leaked and denounced by the London-based pro-transparency NGO Statewatch.
Its most controversial provisions include: restricting the definition of what is an official EU document; giving member states the right to veto disclosure on the basis of national legislation; excluding legal advice given by EU institutions to their own policy makers; and giving "block exemption" to papers in ongoing infringement procedures against EU countries or in competition cases.
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