La transparence dans les institutions européennes : mise en œuvre et obstacles

Since the 1990s, EU institutions have developed policies that are designed to make their work and decision-making processes more accessible to the public. These policies are introduced against a historical backdrop in which transparency has gradually become a “global” norm (Peters, 2013). In this respect, several countries have introduced access to information acts over the past 60 or so years. EU transparency policies developed in the last few decades are the product of events and factors such as Denmark’s rejection of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, MEPs being tasked with acquiring more information on the Council of the European Union’s work, a string of corruption scandals, and decisions made by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Ombudsman that are often in support of increasingly open institutions. Against this backdrop, EU institutions present access to information policies as solutions to a European “democratic deficit” and transparency as a tool to ensure greater accountability among decision-makers, increase citizens’ trust in their representatives and bolster the legitimacy of the institutions. However, there are a myriad of ways to coordinate access to information, and reforms on the matter have not necessarily resulted in the intended outcomes. This paper provides an overview of the main regulatory changes and their impacts, and attempts to identify the barriers facing EU transparency policies.