WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2089/98 by Graham WATSON to the Council. Release of Nigeria's President
C 96/34 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 8. 4. 1999 (1999/C 96/046) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2086/98 by Karin Riis-Jłrgensen (ELDR) to the Commission Subject: Transparency and access to legislative documents (10 July 1998) The transparency of decision-making and the access to legislative documents that it implies, represent essential rights of democracy. The new Article 255 of the Treaty of Amsterdam states that any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having registered office in a Member State, shall have the right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. Annexed to the Final Act of the Amsterdam Treaty is the Declaration on the quality of the drafting of Community legislation. In view of the above, can the Commission specify when it intends to present: › a draft interinstitutional Agreement on the quality of the drafting of Community legislation, in which the institutions undertake, inter alia, not to append unilateral statements of interpretation to legislative texts; › a legislative proposal containing conditions and fundamental principles regarding public access to the documents of the institutions of the Union; enabling it to anticipate or apply as quickly as possible these two fundamental provisions of the new Treaty Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (31 July 1998) With regard to the implementation of Declaration No 39 annexed to the Final Act of the Amsterdam Treaty, the Commission would recall that a group consisting of representatives from the three legal services was mandated to produce draft common guidelines relating to the quality of drafting of Community legislation, which are currently being studied by each institution with a view to final approval by the three institutions. The Commission will present a legislative proposal relating to the implementation of the new Article 255 (right of access to documents) introduced by the Amsterdam Treaty, defining the conditions and basic principles governing access by citizens to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, as soon as possible following the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty. (1999/C 96/047) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2089/98 by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Council (10 July 1998) Subject: Release of Nigeriaís President What steps will the Council take to encourage the release of Chief Abiola, Nigeriaís President elect, and ensure the forthcoming elections herald Nigeriaís return to democracy? Reply (19 October 1998) The Honourable Member will be aware that Chief Abiola has since died while still in custody in Nigeria on 7 July 1998. At his familyís request and with the Nigerian governmentís agreement, an international team of forensic experts performed an autopsy to establish the cause of death. The conclusion of their final report was that Chief Abiola died of natural causes, although his imprisonment may have affected his health