Not Worth the Net Worth? The Democratic Dilemmas of Privileged Access to Information

Rosén, Guri; Stie, Anne Elisabeth

doi:10.17645/pag.v5i3.946

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In policy areas where the nexus of power remains at the national level, member states retain ownership of sensitive information (rather than European institutions like the Commission or bodies like the European External Action Service (EEAS). Contributions in this issue study the tensions between the EP and the Council as they seek to expand or maintain their grasp on the EU's foreign policy (Hillebrandt, 2017;Rosén & Stie, 2017).…”

Section: Institutional Politics and Information Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, this issue examines whether institutional checks and processes of oversight strengthen also public access and participation and how more recent trends of closed parliamentary oversight affect public accountability (Abazi, 2016;Rosén & Stie, 2017). Whilst institutional access to information strengthens the constitutional set balance of powers among EU institutions, the issue scrutinises whether such processes lead to more informed public debate and a wider participation circle for civil society organisations.…”

Section: Institutional Politics and Information Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While there has been more case law clarifying the limits of confidentiality for the Council in foreign affairs, the Council continues to argue that a diplomatic setting is more appropriate for its decisionmaking, a setting where secrecy norms are given more space. Rosén & Stie (2017) take the debate forward by looking at institutional access to information and in particular showing some of the information "battles" over access to information between the EP and the Council. The EP has now in place a legal framework that facilitates access to sensitive information in foreign policy, but this has not necessarily resulted in more straightforward practice of access to information.…”

Section: Findings and Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Institutions' attention is often focused on obtaining access rather than the substantive checks that follow in an oversight process. Rosén & Stie (2017) question whether the EP's pursuit to be informed by the Council is contributing to public deliberation and better parliamentary oversight in EU foreign affairs. With respect to public access to documents, Gheyle & De Ville (2017) argue that disagreements between the civil society organisations and the Commission on the level of transparency is partly explained by the definitions of transparency applied.…”

Section: Findings and Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Trade negotiations as an exclusive competency put the emphasis on the Commission to provide transparency (Coremans, 2017;Gheyle & De Ville, 2017), whereas negotiations in areas of mixed competences involve both Commission and Council. This inevitably affects the need for information exchange between Council and EP (Rosén & Stie, 2017). Hence, the division of competencies in the EU affect both the applicable institutional design as well as the institutions access to information.…”

Section: Findings and Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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EU Institutional Politics of Secrecy and Transparency in Foreign Affairs

Abazi

Adriaensen

2017

PaG

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This thematic issue shows how the interplays of secrecy and transparency have been a salient driver of institutional politics in EU foreign affairs. It offers a critical reading of the most recent developments in EU's international negotiations, an analysis of case law and empirical insights on public and institutional access to information. The Issue provides an interdisciplinary understanding of how information flows affect and are affect by the EU's institutional balance through synergising perspectives from the fields of political science, public administration and law. This editorial outlines the central questions raised in this thematic issue and highlights its main findings.

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Section: Institutional Politics and Information Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Institutional Politics and Information Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Findings and Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Findings and Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Findings and Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

EU Institutional Politics of Secrecy and Transparency in Foreign Affairs

Abazi

Adriaensen

2017

PaG

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Contestation and co-optation: why secrecy in EU external relations varies

Rosén

2018

West European Politics

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The question posed in this article is how to explain that the governance of secrecy in EU external relations varies. While the Common Foreign and Security Policy appears to retain its secretive character, the EU's external trade policy has recently seen a shift towards more transparency. This article argues that to understand this variation, one has to take into account the institutional power of the European Parliament as well as the extent to which the rules and practices of secrecy are perceived as legitimate. The empowerment of the Parliament in trade means that it has had recent success in pushing back secrecy in this area. However, a general finding is that the majority of parliamentarians seem only rarely to question the executive's governance of secrecy in external relations. The analysis shows that perceptions of legitimacy are crucial to account for different secrecy regimesa finding that is likely to be relevant for the understanding of secrecy in foreign policy beyond the EU.

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Secrecy in Europe

Rittberger

Goetz

2018

West European Politics

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This article introduces a collection of papers devoted to the study of secrecy in European politics across a range of EU and national settings and policy domains. Academic interest in secret politics-those aspects of public activity intentionally concealed from the public eye-and the governance of secrecy-the political processes and regulatory frameworks governing secret keeping-is growing. This interest reflects technological, social and political developments that appear to signal the end of privacy and the rapid expansion of political secrecy in European multi-level settings. As a consequence, the tensions between democratic accountability, with its transparency requirements, and political secrecy, which is typically justified on grounds of effectiveness of state action, have become more marked and more politicised. Engaging with these developments, the contributions to this collection draw on actor-and interest-centred perspectives that focus on actors' motivations in secret politics; institutional perspectives that focus on contestation over secrecy norms; and organisational perspectives that emphasise the diversity of secrecy cultures. Further research will benefit from paying special attention to a diverse range of inter-institutional and interorganisational secrecy settings; to political contestation over secrecy and the regulatory regimes that govern it; and to the refashioning of public-private secrecy architectures. KEYWORDS secrecy; transparency; privacy; european union; european politics Arguments about the justification of, and limits to, secrecy pervade European politics at both national and EU levels. For example, despite pressure by the EU on its member states to enhance transparency in the banking sector in the wake of the euro crisis, the German government and parliament are reluctant to release supervisory data relating to Germany's banks to the public (Gandrud and Hallerberg 2018). Although the European Parliament has achieved advances towards further transparency of decision making in the Council, it has largely fallen short of restricting EU governments' secrecy privileges in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (Rosén 2018). In the 'fight' against terrorism, governments have introduced targeted sanctions CONTACT Berthold rittberger

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Not Worth the Net Worth? The Democratic Dilemmas of Privileged Access to Information

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

EU Institutional Politics of Secrecy and Transparency in Foreign Affairs

EU Institutional Politics of Secrecy and Transparency in Foreign Affairs

Contestation and co-optation: why secrecy in EU external relations varies

Secrecy in Europe

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