Transparenz als Verfassungsprinzip – Grundgesetz und Europäische Union : Transparency as a Constitutional Principle – German Basic Law and European Union

Jürgen Bröhmer examines the often used in the political and legal debate concept of transparency in the context of the Constitution and of the European Union law. The concept of transparency has several aspects. One can speak of transparency of results, if the result of a decision-making process is disclosed. Closely related is the content of transparency, relating to the clarity and comprehensibility of the decision result. The process transparency refers to the decision process itself, which are often designed very differently, particularly in transparency relevant points. In federal structures and the increasingly "globalized" world responsibility transparency is becoming increasingly important, which is concerned with the question whether you can assign the result of a decision-making process nor a responsible decision-makers. Transparency is not a new concept and a close look into the Basic Law shows that many rules and principles of the Basic Law have the creation of transparency and of a different type to the subject. But there are also inherited deficits, such as the interpretation of freedom of information in Art. 5 GG, its interpretation has to be adapted to the new conditions of the information society. The comparison with the law of the European Union, where it first of all deals with access to documents and to the decision-making process in the legislative body of the Council of Ministers shows that demands for more transparency can be seen in the context of an actual or perceived democratic deficit. Overlooking the law of the European Union, the author, inter alia, the right of access to documents in detail represents