European Ombudsman event - Access to EU documents: what next?

Date of article: 28/10/2021

Daily News of: 28/10/2021

Country:  EUROPE

Author: European Ombudsman

Article language: en

15NOV2021

10:30 - 13:00

Host: European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly

Location: Brussels, Belgium

Polak Room, Résidence Palace, Rue de la Loi 155, Brussels

The EU institutions are obliged to keep records of documents relevant to their work and any EU citizen can request to view them. This right is enshrined in EU law but Regulation 1049/2001 is now 20 years old. New technologies, as well as changing expectations about the transparency of public administrations, mean it is time to discuss the future of the EU’s access to documents rules.

Transparency and access to documents inquiries account for around one quarter of the Ombudsman’s inquiries each year. There is a fixed timetable in the procedure for requesting documents, but are there too many delays in the system? While institutions have the right to refuse access to documents for certain specific reasons, are these exemptions applied too readily?

The conference is divided into two parts: an expert panel looking into the experiences people have when they request documents and a high-level panel considering the future of access to document rules.

Registration

You can register for the event by using this form.

 

Join the debate

Programme

09.30 - 10.30

Welcome coffee
 

10.30 - 11.45

High-level panel
 

  • Emily O’Reilly, European Ombudsman
  • Věra Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, European Commission
  • Heidi Hautala, Vice-President, European Parliament
  • Reijo Kemppinen, Director-General of Communication and Document Management, General Secretariat of the Council

11.45 - 13.00

Expert panel
 

  • Rosita Hickey, Director of Inquiries, European Ombudsman
  • Tanya Verrier, Director of Transparency, Efficiency and Resources, Secretariat-General, European Commission
  • Päivi Leino, Professor of Transnational European Law, University of Helsinki
  • Peter Teffer, Investigative journalist, Follow the Money
  • Helen Darbishire, Executive Director, Access Info Europe

Panels moderated by James Kanter, Editor, EU Scream Podcast

The conference will be webstreamed.

At the end of the event, a sandwich lunch will be provided.

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