SECRECY AND OPENNESS IN EUROPEAN UNION (European Dossier Series) - Tapa blanda

The third pillar of the European Union - Justice and Home Affairs - formalized the array of secret committees that had been established since the mid-1970s to co-ordinate the policies of the member states on such terms as immigration, asylum, drugs and terrorism. The whole apparatus had developed without any legislative basis, yet the policies that were developed had fundamental implications for civil liberties and democratic rights. Tony Bunyan has analyzed the emergence of this secret system and attempted to counter it both by exposure and by a campaign to procure relevant documents in accordance with the EU's commitment to openness. In this text he combines his knowledge with a personal involvement in the issues.