Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-02-Speech-3-093"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2001-05-02"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Public access to documents2
dcterms:Language	"nl"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20010502.7.3-093"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2001-05-02-Speech-3-0942
lpv:speaker	lp:Jan-Kees Wiebenga2
lpv:spokenAs	unknown; Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (1999-07-20--2001-10-07)3 member; Delegations to the parliamentary cooperation committees and delegations for relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia (1999-12-09--2001-10-07)3 vice-president; European Parliament (1999-07-20--2001-10-07)3 member; Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs (1999-07-21--2001-10-07)3 member; Members from the European Parliament to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) (1999-09-14--2001-10-07)3 substitute; Committee on Development and Cooperation (1999-07-21--2001-10-07)3 vice-president; Parliament's Bureau (1999-07-20--2001-10-07)3 member_of_the_bureau; ELDR (1999-09-13--2001-10-07)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, let there be no misunderstanding: the liberal group will be voting for the disclosure Regulation. If we compare the present situation with that of a year ago, we are definitely making progress. Last year, the European Commission had tabled a weak proposal, taking existing practice as a point of departure. That was not acceptable to us. Last summer, we also witnessed Mr Solana’s coup d’état, who, in one fell swoop, declared all documents under his remit to be secret. It is certainly thanks to Parliament’s persistent pressurising that there is now a better proposal before us, and I would like to congratulate both rapporteurs warmly on this. I am all the more pleased, because the liberal group has been closely involved in the negotiation process: firstly by tabling a number of amendments, also in the later stages, in order to keep the pressure on; secondly by supplying no less than three draftsmen of opinions and thirdly, as already mentioned, by the commitment of the liberal Committee Chairman, Mr Watson, in the final and deciding stage. Mr President, we will be voting for the Regulation, but I will not make a song and dance about it. It is a fact that the compromise proposal still contains weak areas, such as the grounds for exception, the documents of third parties in Article 4, the secret documents of Article 9, and I could mention a few more, but the improvements definitely outweigh the weaknesses. The proposal’s mainstay is disclosure, barring exceptions, and that is a huge step forward for the Brussels bureaucracy. In addition, we can identify a number of liberal touches in the compromise: the agencies in recital 8, the exceptions which do not apply in the event of a predominantly public interest in Article 4, the register of Article 9 and the annual report of each institution, listing refusals in Article 17. All in all, I am keeping it low-key. This is not a story with a happy ending, but we accept the compromise because the best is the enemy of the good. Whoever now votes against, now that a compromise has been reached with the Swedish Presidency, will be wasting an opportunity, for as Mr Van den Berg stated a moment ago, other presidencies will not be prepared to go that far. Mr President, tomorrow’s vote is not the end of the story, it is only the beginning. The European Commission’s evaluation in January 2004 will certainly need to lead to adjustments. The ELDR Group will make every effort to expose the weaknesses in the Regulation in the mean time, and to contribute to the improvement thereof. And our motto is: “Secrecy shows up the weakness of bad government, disclosure reveals the strength of sound government”."@en1

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