To Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, President of the Eurogroup, the Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), and Cecilia Malmström, EU Trade Commissioner

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This petition is run by DiEM25

Petition text As Citizens of the European Union we demand, effective immediately, the live-streaming of the entire European Council, Eurogroup, ESM Board of Governors and Ecofin meetings, and the subsequent publication of official transcripts for all such meetings

a full set of minutes for each ECB Governing Council meeting to be published three weeks after the conclusion of each regular meeting, and complete transcripts of these meetings to be published within two years

an exhaustive list of all Brussels lobbyists and a register of every one of their meetings with elected or unelected EU officials

electronic publication of all TTIP negotiating documents and full transparency at every stage of the TTIP negotiations.

Why this is important

Transparency is the oxygen of democracy. Opacity (or ‘confidentiality’, as the insiders prefer to call it) is the harbinger of bad decisions undermining Europe’s common good.

Have you ever wondered why Europe’s unemployment rate is stuck at levels last seen in the United States in 2009?

Have you noticed how, for six years now, the Eurogroup produces monthly communiqués announcing that the end of the crisis is… just around the corner?

Did you know that, at this very moment, your own members of European Parliament can only see the negotiating documents that will shape the impending EU-US trade treaty (and thus determine the future of paid work, social welfare, innovation and environmental protection) as long as they swear that they will not tell you what these documents say?

Are you aware of the fact that there are ten thousand (!) lobbyists in Brussels whose job is to have regular secret meetings with your representatives in the EU for the purpose of persuading them to accept rules and regulations that often go against your interests?

Without knowing how your representatives behave on your behalf in Brussels and in Frankfurt, you have no control over them. Democracy then becomes a sham and EU decision-making adds error upon error.

Today, if you want to see any of the documents that shape Europe, or to read what your ministers said on your behalf in some pivotal meeting, you simply couldn’t. Nor will your grandchildren be able to see them in the decades to come as no minutes, transcripts or records are kept formally.

Is it any wonder then that the European Union institutions no longer enjoy the trust of Europe’s citizens?

Is it surprising that the European Union is at an advanced stage of disintegration?

No, it is not. It is, rather, the natural result of the cloak of secrecy enveloping decision-making at the level of the EU.

Open Letter

Your signature will be handed over with this letter

We are writing to you as citizens of the European Union outraged at the lack of transparency in the decision-making process within the institutions over which you preside, as well as in the negotiations between the EU and the United States over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement.

To deny EU citizens their right to understand know how their government representatives conduct themselves on their behalf in key decisions, how they vote, the conflict of interests that arise, the proposals under discussion, the commitments made to corporations and non-European governments, is to deny Europe the very chance of democracy.

As Citizens of the European Union we demand, effective immediately,

the live-streaming of the entire European Council, Eurogroup, ESM Board of Governors and Ecofin meetings, and the subsequent publication of official transcripts for all such meetings

a full set of minutes for each ECB Governing Council meeting to be published three weeks after the conclusion of each regular meeting, and complete transcripts of these meetings to be published within two years

an exhaustive list of all Brussels lobbyists and a register of every one of their meetings with elected or unelected EU officials

electronic publication of all TTIP negotiating documents and full transparency at every stage of the TTIP negotiations.

Mr Juncker, you have said, “We have nothing to hide!” If so, then stop hiding from European citizens everything that matters in the EU’s decision-making process.

The European Union is disintegrating due to terrible decisions reached under your cloak of secrecy. Lifting that cloak is now of critical importance for the EU’s future.

Lest we are misunderstood, we shall not settle for public relations tricks, cosmetic changes, or excuses. We demand full transparency at every stage of decision-making that shapes our Europe’s future.

Let light in!