European citizens inform themselves by accessing European Council documents

Brussels – Bringing Europe closer to its citizens also comes through the possibility for them to access Union documents. That is why the European Council presented today (May 21) the 2023 report on public access to its documents that shows a continuing uptrend: last year, requests for access increased by 35 percent after growing by 32 percent in 2022 compared to 2021.

The report shows that the Council’s public register includes over 505,000 documents in the original language. Of these, more than 72 percent are public and available for download. Among the public files are those related to the results of inter-state consultations and negotiations with the European Parliament. Anybody can request access to the documents even when they are not made public. Only in two cases can the EU refuse to share the files: if they involve a decision that has not yet been taken and is under discussion or if they deal with defense and military matters, where the release of the information could compromise the security of the EU or member states.

Over half of the requests for access to records come from civil society: 31 percent from private sector organizations and 23 percent from academia. In terms of areas of interest, the most requested documents are in justice and home affairs (18 percent), competitiveness (12 percent), and foreign policy and security (9 percent).