An Impenetrable Miasma

Be gone, foul spot.

Lack of transparency, including refusal of information, continues to top the list of EU institutions' sins against citizens, the European ombudsman said on Tuesday (15 April).

According to a fresh report, ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros received 3,211 new complaints in 2007 - compared to 3,830 in 2006 - with German citizens (16 percent), Spain (11 percent), France (eight percent) and Poland (seven percent) registering the most complaints.

The overwhelming majority of cases - 413, amounting to 64 percent of the total - were targeted against the European Commission.

”Targeted against?”

Some 28 percent of complaints fall into a 'lack of transparency' rubric, with Mr Diamandouros saying this fact should provide "an opportunity for EU institutions and bodies to demonstrate their willingness to be as open and accountable as possible".

An opportunity which, if a millennium of precedence cultural traditions are held to, will be ignored and then quietly killed off. Nonetheless then, as always, begins the journalistic cover and excuse-making.

Absolute transparency diminishes privacy, while absolute privacy undermines transparency, the ombudsman said, calling on EU institutions to strike the right balance.

Sure thing, Sparky. Whatever. Never mind the percs for now. Keep an eye on the political Percodan they’re trying to hand out.