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From Access to Documents to Consumption of Information: The European Commission Transparency Policy for the TTIP Negotiations
[journal article]
Abstract To increase transparency of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations, the European Commission has reformed existing information sharing systems for trade policy. The Commission has moved from a strategy of providing transparency in the form of access to documents to one... view more
To increase transparency of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations, the European Commission has reformed existing information sharing systems for trade policy. The Commission has moved from a strategy of providing transparency in the form of access to documents to one of access to information, geared specifically towards enhancing consumption of the available information. In both public and institutional transparency policy, the width of the target audience and the depth of the information have increased, and the manner of provision has shifted from reactive to proactive provision of information. As a result, the TTIP is now being coined as the most transparent trade negotiation ever in the EU’s history and a pilot project for transparency policy in future trade negotiations. The article adopts a supply-centred perspective to explain a transparency policy that goes beyond the legal minimum imposed by formal requirements. It relies on interview data of the changes brought about in inter-institutional relations since 2014, basic quantitative and qualitative analysis of document material, and a five-month participatory observation by the author in the secretariat of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade.... view less
Keywords
European Commission; European Parliament; international agreement; international economic relations; trade policy; negotiation; transparency; information exchange; information policy
Classification
European Politics
Free Keywords
access to documents; common commercial policy; TTIP
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
Page/Pages
p. 29-39
Journal
Politics and Governance, 5 (2017) 3
Issue topic
EU Institutional Politics of Secrecy and Transparency in Foreign Affairs
ISSN
2183-2463
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed