News & Events

Mason Hayes & Curran advise on Landmark European Case

12 October 2011

Media Freedom Restored after European Parliament Loses Landmark Case

Irish lawyer, Ciarán Toland, represented by the EU Team at Mason Hayes & Curran, has won a victory for transparency today (Tuesday, 7th June, 2011) at the General Court of the EU. The General Court ruled that the European Parliament acted unlawfully in the grounds it used to deny access to a report drawn up by the Parliament into the operation of the Parliamentary Assistance Allowance.

The significance of today’s decision rests on the impact it will have on transparency rules within the institutions of the European Union.  Mr Toland stated: “I am delighted with the result today. When they refused me access to the report, the European Parliament effectively said that the taxpayers of Europe, who fund the parliament, cannot be trusted to know how their money is being spent by that parliament, nor are they entitled to know what recommendations exist for how the system should be reformed.

The report in question, (known as the “Galvin Report”), is an annual audit into the Parliamentary Assistance Allowance in the European Parliament. It examines the operation of the Allowance, and contains proposals for its reform. The report is based on an audit of the parliamentary assistance allowances of a sample of MEPs in October 2004-June 2005. The report contains details of abuses in expenses paid to certain MEP’s, in order to identify flaws in the allowance system. Although these MEPs are not identified within the report, this concrete examination of their allowances forms the background and rationale for the development of the report.

Mr Toland continued,  “The case proves: firstly, that citizens are entitled to documents relating to the use of public funds; secondly, that citizens are entitled to documents which recommend legislative reform; and, thirdly, that no EU institution can deny documents on the ground that media debate endangers discussion.”

“The case has established the right of all citizens – including the media – to access not only to future Internal Auditor’s Reports, but to all documents essential to legislative and regulatory reform.”

Tony Burke, Partner, Mason Hayes & Curran commented on the result:

“The decision will have far reaching consequences for improving accountability and transparency in the rights of European citizens to access reports of European Institutions.  The team at Mason Hayes & Curran were delighted to work on this landmark case, which leveraged our expertise and experience in taking cases to the European Courts.”

John Kettle, Partner and head of Mason Hayes & Curran’s London office commented:

“It is unfortunate that it has taken a case such as this to uphold citizen and media rights to information, but the result today strikes a blow for transparency in Europe.”

Mr Toland was represented by the EU Team at Mason Hayes & Curran, who are experts in EU law and experienced in taking cases to the European Courts.  The solicitors involved were Tony Burke, John Kettle and Aisling Fitzsimons. Barristers, Eugene Regan SC (Senior Counsel) and Jonathan Newman BL (Junior Counsel), who are both leading EU specialists at the Irish Bar, also advised on the case.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lawyer forces U-turn on MEP expenses