EU to be More Transparent?
The UK government has lost another battle in Brussels. However, this time, one has to ask why they wanted what they did.
European leaders have hammered out a plan to open up all ministerial meetings dealing with EU legislation.
This was something that his royal Blairness didn't want.
London complained about the package in the run-up to the summit, arguing that it risks leading to crucial negotiations on EU laws moving from the meeting rooms to the corridors.Is this the reason, or do they wish to keep everything under wraps, so as to stifle opposition to their positions on various EU issues. I personally haven't yet made up my mind.
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This is what my MEP Robert Sturdy said in his Strasbourg report last week on the subject:
"One of the very few achievements of the British Presidency was a commitment to greater openness in the secretive high-level Council meetings in Brussels. This week Mrs Beckett announced a U-turn on this policy: we no longer want people to know what our Government is negotiating. Apparently it would make discussions less democratic. Why the sudden change of heart? Well, if I were her and had just presided over one of the biggest displays of Ministerial incompetence in recent years (the inability of her minions at DEFRA to pay Single Farm Payments) I wouldn't want anyone examining what I did in my new job too closely either."
Perhaps they mean that the EU will be less visible and more stealthy?
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