Blair met by MEPs' protests

1.54.53pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 26th Oct 2005

Tony Blair's arrival at the European Parliament was met by a demonstration of MEPs calling for the British Presidency to take a lead in opening up law-making debates by ministers.

Mr Blair told MEPs in his parliamentary address on June 23 that he thought there was "a strong case" for making the change, and promised to consider the idea. Europe Minister Douglas Alexander has since promised to consult other member states about the proposal.

Andrew Duff, who has been at the forefront of the campaign for the Constitution, said that Britain needed to take the initiative and put the proposed change on the Council of Minister's agenda within the next few weeks.

He said: "National MPs cannot hold ministers to account if they don't know what is being said in their country's name.

"Britain's EU presidency ends in just two months and many people feel there is little to show for it so far. Tony Blair can improve the reputation both of Britain and of Europe if he takes the initiative to put the principles of openness and transparency into practice."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The leaders of all the UK delegations in the Parliament, including the Liberal Democrats Chris Davies, Labour's Gary Titley and the Conservative's Timothy Kirkhope, joined last month in saying that rules should be changed to end the practice of ministers meeting to debate EU laws behind closed doors.

EU laws are drafted by the European Commission and then amended or rejected both by the European Parliament and by the Council of Ministers. While MEPs meet in public, government ministers debate new laws behind closed doors.

MEPs point out that the improvement requires only a simple change in the standing orders governing ministerial meetings, needing the support of just 13 of Europe's 25 member states.