At the February General Affairs Council, the transparency in contracts between the European Commission and NGOs was placed on the agenda at the initiative of Hungary.
EU Affairs Minister János Bóka said after the meeting that he expressed doubts about the transparency of current legislation and institutional practice. He also suggested two courses of action: the Council could ask for direct access to these contracts, or the Commission could work with other institutions to provide greater access.
He explained that currently the basic details of the contracts–the contracting parties, the amount of the grant and the general objective–are available on the internet, but it is not clear exactly what activities the parties have committed themselves to. Individuals, Member States and institutions can request access to these contracts, but the European Commission made it clear at Tuesday's meeting that it does not consider itself legally obliged to make them public in full detail.
"Among the intervening Member States, some expressed support for this initiative. Some expressed satisfaction with the practice of the Commission so far. I look forward to a professional and political debate in the Council in this respect in the coming weeks and months," he added.
"Hungary's objective remains to achieve similar transparency in EU funding, in the same way that the United States has made public information on its support to NGOs," he said.
