Bid to cut EU secrecy

3.29.18pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 7th Sep 2005

Hampshire MEP Sharon Bowles is backing moves to open up EU decision making

Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament have won cross-party backing for efforts to cut secrecy in European Union decision making.

The leaders of all the UK political groups in the European Parliament have joined with Sharon Bowles, Lib Dem MEP for Hampshire to demand that Tony Blair should force ministers to debate new EU laws in public.

"It is unacceptable that Europe's most senior law-making body, the Council of Ministers, continues to meet behind closed doors when its members are debating new laws."

Liberal Democrats MEPs put pressure on Tony Blair to tackle council secrecy when he spoke to the European Parliament at the beginning of the UK Presidency of the EU. The MEPs point out that the improvement requires only a simple change in the standing orders of ministerial meetings, needing the support of just 13 of Europe's 25 member states.

Sharon Bowles described the support she had received from political rivals as "remarkable", and congratulated them for taking political risks in signing the joint declaration. "It shows the European Parliament at it best,"