Söderman also states that it is not for the Commission "to say which documents might or might not be useful for citizens in carrying out monitoring of the Commission's exercise of its powers."
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a research and campaigning group targeting the threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power of corporations and their lobby groups.
The decision comes more than two years after CEO first requested access to the documents. The disputed papers are the Commission's briefing notes for the TABD's November 1999 CEO Conference in Berlin. These documents, including pre-prepared speeches for Commissioners and other European Commission staff, are the only real source for monitoring what was said behind closed doors.
TABD conferences are attended by high-level delegations from the European Commission and the US government. Despite the fact that the TABD is a private sector group with no official status in the EU treaties, the Commission refers to its involvement in the TABD events as "negotiations". For background information on the TABD, see for instance the CEO briefing "TABD in Troubled Water": http://www.corporateeurope.org/tabd/troubled.html
The TABD's website is: http://www.tabd.com
For more information, contact the Corporate Europe Observatory: http://www.corporateeurope.org
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a research and campaigning group targeting the threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power of corporations and their lobby groups.
The decision comes more than two years after CEO first requested access to the documents. The disputed papers are the Commission's briefing notes for the TABD's November 1999 CEO Conference in Berlin. These documents, including pre-prepared speeches for Commissioners and other European Commission staff, are the only real source for monitoring what was said behind closed doors.
TABD conferences are attended by high-level delegations from the European Commission and the US government. Despite the fact that the TABD is a private sector group with no official status in the EU treaties, the Commission refers to its involvement in the TABD events as "negotiations". For background information on the TABD, see for instance the CEO briefing "TABD in Troubled Water": http://www.corporateeurope.org/tabd/troubled.html
The TABD's website is: http://www.tabd.com
For more information, contact the Corporate Europe Observatory: http://www.corporateeurope.org