European citizens making more requests for Commission documents than ever before

European citizens making more requests for Commission documents than ever before

Europe’s citizens are showing an ever greater interest in Commission activities, over a growing number of policy areas. That’s the conclusion of the latest annual report on public access to documents, which shows an 18% increase in the number of requests for documents in 2010.

In total, the Commission received 6,361 requests for access to documents in 2010. This compares to 5,401 in 2009 – and just 450 ten years ago. These requests concerned everything from a single document to entire files concerning various administrative procedures. The many requests for documents that were already publicly available are not included in these figures.

Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said: “These figures reflect a growing interest in Commission activities and I welcome that. Disclosure of documents is often in the public interest and is a key way of increasing transparency. This can only be a good thing. Greater transparency ensures that the Commission is open to public scrutiny and accountable for its work.”

Competition policy topped the list of areas of interest, accounting for nearly 1 in 10 requests, followed by home and justice affairs, transport and energy, the internal market and the environment. The biggest proportion of requests came from people or organisations based in Belgium (17.95%), with Germany close behind (16.62%).

+ 2010 Annual Report on Access to Commission Documents (PDF)

Source: European Commission

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