30 SEPTEMBER 2002
CASE STUDY: Secrecy and Openness in the European Union
The Ongoing Struggle for Freedom of Information
By Tony Bunyan, Statewatch

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank everyone in the Statewatch office (Trevor, Ben, Yasha, Katrin and Eleanor) without whom I would not have had the time to take out the cases to the European Ombudsman let alone complete this project; Steve Peers (for hours of exchanging views and experiences), Deirdre Curtin (for the stimulating sharing of ideas, for suggesting this project and for commenting on the drafts) and for their support Aidan White (European Federation of Journalists) and Heidi Hautala MEP.

Many thanks too to Professor Mike Newman, director of the London European Research Centre, who commissioned the first edition of this project (published by Kogan Page, 1999) and for agreeing that a number of Chapters could be reproduced here.

This project has been written in a personal capacity; Statewatch does not have a corporate view nor does it seek to create one.

Biographical note

Tony Bunyan is a journalist specialising in justice and home affairs and openness in the European Union and is editor of Statewatch bulletin and Statewatch European Monitor. He is author of The Political Police in Britain (1976) and Secrecy and openness in the EU (1999, Kogan Page). For Statewatch he has edited: Statewatching the new Europe: a handbook on the European state (1993), The Europol Convention (1995), Researching the European state: a critical guide (1996) and Key texts on justice and home affairs in the European Union: From Trevi to Maastricht: 1976-1993 (1997).

He is: a Visiting Research Fellow at the London European Research Centre, University of North London; a member of the Council of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR); a member of the International Commission investigating events on Genoa, July 2001; a member of the Advisory Board of Privacy International and a member of the Liaison Committee of the European Network for Peace and Human Rights. In 2001 he was selected by the European Voice newspaper as one of the 50 "most influential people" in the EU as a result of his work on openness and civil liberties.

Statewatch

Statewatch was founded in 1991 and is an independent group of lawyers, lecturers, journalists, researchers and community activists. Its network of contributors is drawn from 12 European countries. It publishes Statewatch bulletin and Statewatch European Monitor and maintains three content-rich websites.

Statewatch is one of the leading groups in the EU monitoring the policies and actions in the field of justice and home affairs (policing, immigration and legal cooperation) and the effect these have on the rights of citizens, refugees and asylum-seekers. See: About Statewatch

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