European Parliament listens to the blogosphere: More transparency of the EU institutions!

I was very much impressed and positively surprised when I just read the EP press release stating that the European Parliament wants to foster transparency of the EU institutions and has issued a respective report.

I am amazed to read lines like:

[T]he committee argued that Parliament must take the lead on transparency and should embark on a special action plan ahead of the 2009 elections, with more information on MEPs' activities, their attendance at parliamentary meetings - in absolute, relative and percentage terms - and on their allowances and expenses.

which would make private initiatives to supervise the Parliament more or less obsolete.

I am also thankful to hear that

an inter-institutional search engine should be introduced, together with "a single EU register / portal" for information and documents

and that

the institutions are urged to improve transparency of the procedures for comitology and for agreements thrashed out at first-reading of the co-decision procedure through "trialogues"

The full and final text of the report is not yet published (at least the there is no link available), but as soon as it will be available I will update this post.

And although I am not sure whether the European Parliament is actually following debates in the blogosphere, this reports seems to reflect pretty much major parts of the discussions (which I would link if I had time) we are having regularly among Eurobloggers and which have remained unheard so far by the European institutions.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel, I hope!