Just details of EU history:
According to a Council document from June 2008 in which you find a summary of the preparatory work for the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty at that time (document version with handwritten comments), "many delegations" of EU member states thought that the SCIFA, the Council's Strategic Committee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum, should be abolished in order to streamline the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) structures (see page 7).
However, in November 2009, right before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the Council decided to keep SCIFA until 2012.
This means that "many delegations" had changed their mind within one year regarding the streamlining of JHA structures.
Showing posts with label working party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label working party. Show all posts
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Commission complains about leaked documents to Council: In vain
It's obvious that institutions don't like leaked document because the public could get to know what these institutions are actually doing its name.
To quote from the partially public outcomes of proceedings of the EU Council's Trade Policy Committee (19 February 2010; page 6):
I suppose that the Commission's appeal in February was remained unheard.
To quote from the partially public outcomes of proceedings of the EU Council's Trade Policy Committee (19 February 2010; page 6):
"The Commission informed the Committee about two leaked documents, one RESTREINT UE and the other LIMITED. The Commission stressed the need to keep the confidentiality of such sensitive documents."Which reminds me of the fact that La Quadrature yesterday leaked the full ACTA text with negotiation positions of the different sides (EU, USA, Australia, Japan) - and the water mark of the scanned document shows that it comes from the EU...
I suppose that the Commission's appeal in February was remained unheard.
EU Council preparatory bodies in 2010
When the news media - national or European - talk about the EU Council, they usually talk about the ministers. Nice photos, nice stories.
However, a lot of the important preparatory work of the Council is done behind the scenes, in committees, working parties, and special groups bringing together European diplomats, national officials, or military staff.
Here is the 2010 list of Council preparatory bodies that I found thanks to a draft letter of the Council to the European Parliament's international trade committee (which I covered last week).
The list is long and heavy, and beside the few names you find in Annex 2 these bodies remain faceless entities. Their participants are not known to the public; at least I am not aware of public participation lists.
The Council remains absolutely intransparent in this regard, although quite some intergovernmental pre-legislative and political work is done at these levels and knowing who represents the different countries in those meetings might be of some importance.
Due to this intransparency it is also hard to cover the work of these committees although I try from time to time. But without names and faces and proper documentation it is really difficult to build a story unless you find something funny or specially interesting.
I therefore think that it is time for the Council as the second legislative chamber of the EU to become much more transparent on the sub-minister level so that we know what bodies like COSI are doing in our name.
PS.: The last time I linked a list of Council preparatory bodies was in 2008, a list for 2009 can be found here.
Update: In the Annex of this document there is a list of Council preparatory bodies with interpretation in all EU languages.
However, a lot of the important preparatory work of the Council is done behind the scenes, in committees, working parties, and special groups bringing together European diplomats, national officials, or military staff.
Here is the 2010 list of Council preparatory bodies that I found thanks to a draft letter of the Council to the European Parliament's international trade committee (which I covered last week).
The list is long and heavy, and beside the few names you find in Annex 2 these bodies remain faceless entities. Their participants are not known to the public; at least I am not aware of public participation lists.
The Council remains absolutely intransparent in this regard, although quite some intergovernmental pre-legislative and political work is done at these levels and knowing who represents the different countries in those meetings might be of some importance.
Due to this intransparency it is also hard to cover the work of these committees although I try from time to time. But without names and faces and proper documentation it is really difficult to build a story unless you find something funny or specially interesting.
I therefore think that it is time for the Council as the second legislative chamber of the EU to become much more transparent on the sub-minister level so that we know what bodies like COSI are doing in our name.
PS.: The last time I linked a list of Council preparatory bodies was in 2008, a list for 2009 can be found here.
Update: In the Annex of this document there is a list of Council preparatory bodies with interpretation in all EU languages.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
COSI - A new important Council body on EU internal security
On 11 March 2010, the newly established Standing Committee on operational cooperation on internal security (COSI) of the EU Council met for the first time.
This working party composed of member states experts from the capitals (thus not from the permanent representations in Brussels; source) was formally set up by the Council on 25 February and is regarded by the Council as part of the major changes of its working structures in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) after the Lisbon Treaty ratification.
COSI will have the task to
From the summary of discussions of the first COSI meeting we learn that one of the tasks of the committee could be to deal with mutual assistants of member states in case of terrorist attacks as well as in case of natural or man-made disasters (cf. Article 222 TFEU).
Other fields of activity concern "the exchange of personal data for law enforcement purposes", "counter-terrorism measures", "PNR" (Passenger Name Records), all topics on the agenda before the summer, as well as the plan for an EU "internal security strategy" which the Commission wants to propose after the summer of 2010. In this regard, the committee is also interested in the co-operation of the EU internal security agencies CEPOL, Eurojust, Europol and FRONTEX whose representatives can be allowed to participate in COSI meetings.
This new committee looks like one of the new major players in the EU's internal security policies on the side of the EU governments - and I hope the European Parliament and national parliaments will be able to counterbalance its weight in the years to come.
Supplement: In the Council search you can find, for example, the latest agendas or summary of discussions in which COSI is mentioned.
Supplement 2: 16 member states have issued their comments regarding the tasks that COSI should take over. Unfortunately, the documents are only partially public so you don't see which country has sent which questionnaire.
This working party composed of member states experts from the capitals (thus not from the permanent representations in Brussels; source) was formally set up by the Council on 25 February and is regarded by the Council as part of the major changes of its working structures in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) after the Lisbon Treaty ratification.
COSI will have the task to
facilitate, promote and strengthen coordination of operational actions of the authorities of the Member States competent in the field of internal security. (Article 2)Citing from Article 6 of the Council decision, the European Journal remarks that
[w]hereas the committee is required to report its activities to the Council, the Council solely is required to “keep the EP and national parliaments informed.” Hence, such committee will not be subject to a proper parliamentary control.The scope of the work of the committee looks pretty broad, including a number of controversial security issues discussed in the member states and the EU.
From the summary of discussions of the first COSI meeting we learn that one of the tasks of the committee could be to deal with mutual assistants of member states in case of terrorist attacks as well as in case of natural or man-made disasters (cf. Article 222 TFEU).
Other fields of activity concern "the exchange of personal data for law enforcement purposes", "counter-terrorism measures", "PNR" (Passenger Name Records), all topics on the agenda before the summer, as well as the plan for an EU "internal security strategy" which the Commission wants to propose after the summer of 2010. In this regard, the committee is also interested in the co-operation of the EU internal security agencies CEPOL, Eurojust, Europol and FRONTEX whose representatives can be allowed to participate in COSI meetings.
This new committee looks like one of the new major players in the EU's internal security policies on the side of the EU governments - and I hope the European Parliament and national parliaments will be able to counterbalance its weight in the years to come.
Supplement: In the Council search you can find, for example, the latest agendas or summary of discussions in which COSI is mentioned.
Supplement 2: 16 member states have issued their comments regarding the tasks that COSI should take over. Unfortunately, the documents are only partially public so you don't see which country has sent which questionnaire.
Council working structures in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)
In the annex a Council document from December released now there is a list of Council working parties in Justice and Home Affairs, including the ones that have disappeared after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.
PS.: See also my article on the new JHA committee COSI which has been established in the course of the above-mentioned changes.
PS.: See also my article on the new JHA committee COSI which has been established in the course of the above-mentioned changes.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
New Council working party: "Sport"
According to a fresh Council document, the EU Council is going to create a Working Party on Sport - because according to Article 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) the Union now has a competence in the area of sport.
Monday, 25 January 2010
Handbook on Terrorist Organisations
Did you know that the EU is working on a "Handbook on Terrorist Organisations"?
It could be that this thing already exists although the search term on Google doesn't produce any results. But in the summary of discussions of the last meeting of the EU Council Terrorism Working Party (agenda item 6) there is a short hint to the "update and distribution" of this handbook.
Oh, and in the same document we learn that representatives of Marriott Hotels International Ltd and of the Rezidor Hotel Group were invited to speak about terrorist threats and the difficulties to combine hotel work and vigilance during the working party meeting.
I feel more protected now.
It could be that this thing already exists although the search term on Google doesn't produce any results. But in the summary of discussions of the last meeting of the EU Council Terrorism Working Party (agenda item 6) there is a short hint to the "update and distribution" of this handbook.
Oh, and in the same document we learn that representatives of Marriott Hotels International Ltd and of the Rezidor Hotel Group were invited to speak about terrorist threats and the difficulties to combine hotel work and vigilance during the working party meeting.
I feel more protected now.
Saturday, 9 January 2010
I don't get what the Union wants to do for young researchers
I have just read the Draft Council Conclusions on mobility and career of European researchers as proposed by the Spanish Council Presidency.
As a young researcher addressed by these conclusions I have to say that I have no idea what the EU or the member states actually want to do based on this document.
It's the usual "we welcome the report XYZ" and "we ask the Commission to produce a new report ABC" diplomatic-bureaucratic speech but it doesn't contain anything concrete that will ease the (mobile) life of me or my colleagues.
So good luck, bureaucrats, at the Research Working Party meeting on Monday - I suppose there will be substantive amendments adding the reference to at least one more important report somebody has produced in the last three years to the conclusions.
Nobody will care.
As a young researcher addressed by these conclusions I have to say that I have no idea what the EU or the member states actually want to do based on this document.
It's the usual "we welcome the report XYZ" and "we ask the Commission to produce a new report ABC" diplomatic-bureaucratic speech but it doesn't contain anything concrete that will ease the (mobile) life of me or my colleagues.
So good luck, bureaucrats, at the Research Working Party meeting on Monday - I suppose there will be substantive amendments adding the reference to at least one more important report somebody has produced in the last three years to the conclusions.
Nobody will care.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Limiting Ashton's power: The role of the rotating Council Presidency in foreign policy
With the nomination of van Rompuy and Ashton for the two major top posts, it looked pretty clear that the coordination of the EU's foreign policy will now be handed over to these two persons and their administrations.
Yet, as I have explained earlier, the rotating Council Presidency will not disappear but will chair all Council configurations except for the Foreign Affairs Council that will be chaired by Ashton.
However, I just discovered a freshly published Council document regulating the role of the rotating Council Presidency in the preparatory work of the Foreign Affairs Council. This document is definitely limiting the powers of Ashton and is restricting her freedom to work freely with her own diplomatic service:
And even where Ashton can chose the chairpersons of the working groups, she is limited by the member states (own highlights):
I might be mistaken, but this looks like bringing further disorder into the European institutions that are already very hard to understand and control.
Supplement: Eurogeek has correctly pointed to the fact that this is not new but has already been discussed for some time, as shows this "L'Europe de la Défense" article from 31 October 2009.
Yet, as I have explained earlier, the rotating Council Presidency will not disappear but will chair all Council configurations except for the Foreign Affairs Council that will be chaired by Ashton.
However, I just discovered a freshly published Council document regulating the role of the rotating Council Presidency in the preparatory work of the Foreign Affairs Council. This document is definitely limiting the powers of Ashton and is restricting her freedom to work freely with her own diplomatic service:
The chairmanship of the preparatory bodies of the Foreign Affairs Council referred to in categories 1 to 4 in the table below shall be organised as follows:This means that although Ashton is going to chair every Foreign Affairs Council, the prepared documents coming into these meetings from the Working Parties won't have always been co-ordinated by the External Action Service but also by the rotating Council presidency.
1) Category 1 (preparatory bodies in the area of trade and development)
The preparatory bodies shall be chaired by the six-monthly Presidency.
2) Category 2 (geographic preparatory bodies)
The preparatory bodies shall be chaired by a representative of the High Representative.
3) Category 3 (horizontal preparatory bodies, mainly CFSP)
The preparatory bodies shall be chaired by a representative of the High Representative, except the following preparatory bodies, which shall be chaired by the six-monthly
Presidency:
- Working Party of Foreign Relations Counsellors (RELEX);
- Working Party on Terrorism (International Aspects) (COTER);
- Working Party on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism (COCOP);
- Working Party on Consular Affairs (COCON);
- Working Party on Public International Law (COJUR); and
- Working Party on the Law of the Sea (COMAR).
4) Category 4 (ESDP related preparatory bodies)
The ESDP related preparatory bodies shall be chaired by a representative of the High Representative.
And even where Ashton can chose the chairpersons of the working groups, she is limited by the member states (own highlights):
Where ... a preparatory body (PSC and relevant working parties) shall be chaired by a representative of the High Representative, the responsibility for appointing the chair shall belong to the High Representative. These appointments shall be made on the basis of competence, while ensuring adequate geographical balance and transparency. The High Representative shall ensure that the person he or she intends to appoint as chairperson will enjoy the confidence of Member States.Looking at this document one can see that the coherence in the European Union's foreign policy is unlikely to emerge, with the member states fighting to keep control over certain key areas, limiting the power(s) of the Foreign Minister.
I might be mistaken, but this looks like bringing further disorder into the European institutions that are already very hard to understand and control.
Supplement: Eurogeek has correctly pointed to the fact that this is not new but has already been discussed for some time, as shows this "L'Europe de la Défense" article from 31 October 2009.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Fingerprints, migrants, and police cooperation between EU member states
Often it is really hard to track member states' positions on crucial issues, like data protection or migration - but sometimes you can find some very interesting things.
In September, the Commission issued a Proposal for a Council Decision on
In September, the Commission issued a Proposal for a Council Decision on
"requesting comparisons with EURODAC data by Member States' law enforcement authorities and Europol for law enforcement purposes"This proposal - criticised already in June by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles in a memorandum (PDF) - starts with the following assessment:
"Fingerprint data is especially useful information for law enforcement purposes, as it constitutes an important element in establishing the exact identity of a person. The usefulness of fingerprint databases in fighting crime is a fact that has been repeatedly acknowledged.As a consequence of this assessment and following the analysis of what is already possible under EU law, the Commission proposes the following:
Fingerprint data of asylum seekers are collected and stored in the Member State in which the asylum application was filed, as well as in EURODAC.
[...]
However, while Member States successfully access asylum seekers fingerprints on a national level, it seems that access to asylum seekers fingerprint databases of other Member States is more problematic. The reason is that there is a structural information and verification gap since there is currently no single system that is accessible to law enforcement authorities which enables to determine the Member State that has information on an asylum seeker."
"The proposed action establishes the basis for the right of Member States as well as Europol to request a comparison of fingerprint data or a latent with EURODAC data. A successful comparison with result in a 'hit' reply from EURODAC, which will be acompanied by all data that is held in EURODAC regarding the fingerprint. Requests for supplementary information following a hit would not be regulated in the proposed Council Decision but rather be covered by existing instruments on the exchange of law enforcement information.Today, a summary of discussions of the Police Cooperation Working Party of the EU Council on 30 September 2009 has been published. And interestingly, the positions of the member states regarding the proposal have been recorded - and only Belgium seems to be totally against it:
The scope of the proposal will be the fight against terrorist offences and serious criminal offences, such as trafficking in human beings and drugs."
"A vast majority of delegations (AT, CZ, DE, DK, EE, EL, FI, HU, IT, LV, LT, SL, PT, PL, UK, SE, MT, NL) welcomed the proposal and expressed their support to it.The next meeting of the Working Party is set for Monday, 19 October 2009 - maybe someone in Brussels could try to follow up on this?!
BE indicated that, although significant progress had been made since the discussions on this issue in 2007 which resulted in Council Conclusions on access to Eurodac for law enforcement authorities, it continued to have serious concerns about this proposal.
Various delegations introduced a scrutiny reservation (AT, BE, CY, CZ, EE, EL, FI, IR, LT, MT, NL, PT, SE, SI, SK, UK), and/or a Parliamentary reservation (DK, MT, NL, PL, SE, UK)."
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
EU details: The Special Committee ATHENA
On my regular journeys through the strange world of EU Council documents, I found an agenda of a so-called "Special Committee ATHENA".
According to the former Czech Council Presidency (here), "[t]he Special Committee ATHENA deals with funding of ESDP military operations". And the Swedish Presidency tells that ATHENA meets 12 times a year.
And when you you google the term, you find lots of interesting information on EU military missions, including more detailed explanations of ATHENA on the Commission website and on the website of the Council.
One more detail on how the EU is working behind the scenes.
According to the former Czech Council Presidency (here), "[t]he Special Committee ATHENA deals with funding of ESDP military operations". And the Swedish Presidency tells that ATHENA meets 12 times a year.
And when you you google the term, you find lots of interesting information on EU military missions, including more detailed explanations of ATHENA on the Commission website and on the website of the Council.
One more detail on how the EU is working behind the scenes.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The EU Council: Meetings. Meetings. Meetings. And how to find related documents.
While traditional media - if at all - will only report on the Council of the European Union when it gets together on the ministerial level, there are hundreds of working level meetings between diplomats and national or international experts.
If you want to keep track of what is going on, you can use the Council Calendar that provides an overview over all (?) meetings. And if you need the agenda for a particular meeting, you can try to find it here.
It is more difficult to get the working documents for a particular meeting; and if you find them, they are quite often not public.
But you can still try: Open the agenda of a meeting you are interested in, copy the document number of a document you would like to see (you find them below the agenda items; just take the fist one in the format "11111/09") and go to the simple search. Search for the number under "Words in the text", and sometimes you'll be lucky to find it or at least get another related document.
If in the end you don't get what you want, try to contact the Public Information Service, which is inviting you to do so in a recently published article!
Still, the presentation of the meetings and agendas is very confusing for anyone who is not an expert in these issues - and as so often before I can only encourage the Council to restructure its website!
PS.: If anyone has better hints, I'd be glad to hear about your own strategies!
Read also my article on the search for Commission meeting agendas.
If you want to keep track of what is going on, you can use the Council Calendar that provides an overview over all (?) meetings. And if you need the agenda for a particular meeting, you can try to find it here.
It is more difficult to get the working documents for a particular meeting; and if you find them, they are quite often not public.
But you can still try: Open the agenda of a meeting you are interested in, copy the document number of a document you would like to see (you find them below the agenda items; just take the fist one in the format "11111/09") and go to the simple search. Search for the number under "Words in the text", and sometimes you'll be lucky to find it or at least get another related document.
If in the end you don't get what you want, try to contact the Public Information Service, which is inviting you to do so in a recently published article!
Still, the presentation of the meetings and agendas is very confusing for anyone who is not an expert in these issues - and as so often before I can only encourage the Council to restructure its website!
PS.: If anyone has better hints, I'd be glad to hear about your own strategies!
Read also my article on the search for Commission meeting agendas.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
European patent regulation and litigation: Council progress report
The EU Council is working on two major issues regarding patents at the moment:
For this purpose, the Czech Council Presidency has prepared a progress report (five readable pages) from which I could see that the major topic of the Unified Patent Litigation System will be the setting up of a European and Community Patents Court for which an updated draft agreement and draft statute have been published in March.
Article 14a of the agreement defines the legal scope of this Court that shall replace "the current fragmented patent litigation system" (progress report):
Finally, the Czech Presidency concludes the progress report with the following outlook:
"With respect to the unified patent litigation system, the Presidency, in line with the wishes of a large majority of Member States, believes that the Council should request an opinion of the [European Court of Justice] on the compatibility of the unified patent litigation system with the EC Treaty. Finally, the Presidency considers that the Working Party should continue work with a view to enabling the Council to reach an overall agreement on both files as soon as possible."
- a Regulation of the Council on the Community patent
- an Agreement creating a Unified Patent Litigation System
For this purpose, the Czech Council Presidency has prepared a progress report (five readable pages) from which I could see that the major topic of the Unified Patent Litigation System will be the setting up of a European and Community Patents Court for which an updated draft agreement and draft statute have been published in March.
Article 14a of the agreement defines the legal scope of this Court that shall replace "the current fragmented patent litigation system" (progress report):
Article 14a Applicable lawThe Council Regulation on the Community Patent has seen a latest draft version in April, and it looks like work will continue for a while, since the progress report states that this revised version "should form the basis for further discussion and work on the outstanding issues in the coming months" (highlighted by me).
(1) When hearing a case brought before it under this Agreement, the Court shall respect Community law and base its decisions on:(a) this Agreement;(2) To the extent that the Court shall base its decisions on national law of the Contracting States, the applicable law shall be determined:
(b) directly applicable Community law, in particular Council Regulation (EC) No … on the Community patent, and national law of the Contracting States implementing Community law […];
(c) the European Patent Convention and national law which has been adopted by the Contracting States in accordance with the European Patent Convention; and
(d) any provision of international agreements applicable to patents and binding on all the Contracting Parties.(a) by directly applicable provisions of Community law, or
(b) in the absence of directly applicable provisions of Community law, by international instruments on private international law to which all Contracting Parties are parties; or
(c) in the absence of provisions referred to in (a) and (b), by national provisions on international private law as determined by the Court.
Finally, the Czech Presidency concludes the progress report with the following outlook:
"With respect to the unified patent litigation system, the Presidency, in line with the wishes of a large majority of Member States, believes that the Council should request an opinion of the [European Court of Justice] on the compatibility of the unified patent litigation system with the EC Treaty. Finally, the Presidency considers that the Working Party should continue work with a view to enabling the Council to reach an overall agreement on both files as soon as possible."
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Council Working Party on Information to discuss access to information regulation recast and... Web 2.0
Next Tuesday, 21 April 2009, the EU Council Working Party on Information meets (agenda) and there are two interesting points under the agenda item 2 "Access to documents":
In parallel to the Council's discussions, the European Parliament is working on this regulation recast (co-decision procedure), and the issue has gone into the first reading and first initial votes in Parliament on 11 March 2009.
On the agenda of the Working Party on Information there is also another interesting issue under any other business:
But neither the Council website nor the responsible Commissioner Margot Wallström (in her blog or on the DG's website) talk about this event.
That is not even Web 1.0...
a. Seventh annual report of the Council on the implementation of Regulation No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documentsThis revision of the Regulation 1049/2001 on access to documents will show how the European Union and institutions take their democratic responsibility, in particular seeing how the Commission handles (in-)transparency and seeing how incredible inscrutable the Council works. At least, some governments, in particular from the north, have raised their concerns about the information access legislation, and now the Dutch government seems to join them.
d. Proposal for a Regulation (EC) of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (recast of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001)
In parallel to the Council's discussions, the European Parliament is working on this regulation recast (co-decision procedure), and the issue has gone into the first reading and first initial votes in Parliament on 11 March 2009.
On the agenda of the Working Party on Information there is also another interesting issue under any other business:
"Club of Venice: Workshop on Internet/Web 2.0 communication and on the implementation of the EP's communication strategy for the European elections (Brussels (IPC), 17 April 2009)"I didn't hear about this "Club of Venice" before, and there are not too many references to this thing. What I found is this information (own translation):
Created some twenty years ago, this informal Club gathers today the governmental information services of the European Union as well as the DG Communication of the Commission with the goal to exchange information and good practices.In other words, staff of the member states' governments and Commission officials will meet tomorrow to discuss the information campaign of the European Parliament and the use of web 2.0.
The Club of Venice meets twice a year, once in Venice and once in the capital of the EU Council Presidency.
But neither the Council website nor the responsible Commissioner Margot Wallström (in her blog or on the DG's website) talk about this event.
That is not even Web 1.0...
Saturday, 2 August 2008
The EU Council: Preparatory bodies and information research
Update: For the 2010 list of Council preparatory bodies go here.
In an article by the Public Affairs 2.0 blog that rightly complains about the lack of transparency of the official EU Council website - especially if you are looking for particular documents - I have found the following document issued on 8 July 2008:
Looking at that list you are reminded of how much is going on behind the scenes in the European Union and especially in the Council. Only the first seven committees on that list are set up by the Treaties. Consequently, anyone trying to understand how the Council is working just by reading the Treaties will only get the upper skin of the surface.
And even if you have got this list of all working parties, recent research suggests that it depends on the specific policy area how much influence the different committees and hierarchical levels have for the Council's policy outcome.
In addition to the numerous preparatory bodies, there is a huge list of subject matters, and each item has its own little abbreviation. If you try to use the Council register search for particular issues or documents, first you become overwhelmed by the amount of possibilities and then you are confused by the results of your research that are not represented very clearly.
Finding recent or specific information seems more like gambling than like an act of self-determination.
Why can't it be as simple as the hierarchical presentation of the "Who is Who" of the European Union? There, you click on on an EU institution and, step by step, you can climb down the hierarchy latter until you reach the unit you are looking for. The same thing could be done with EU documents, including those of the Council, so that for every level you would easily find a list of relevant documents.
The European Union could only win from making itself more transparent, and presenting information in such a way that every citizen can find the information s/he needs, would be a more than important step. The Council and its preparatory bodies are part of this European polity and we can expect from them that they behave in a way that is appropriate in a democratic society - something that the EU pretends to promote within and beyond its borders...
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