Information newsletter
Issue 2(14), February 2005

Case of the month: The sessions of municipal councils and their committees are public
Darina Palova, AIP

The case:
Do the committees of a municipal council have the right to close their sessions to citizens and journalists. In what circumstances are they eligible to do so? Often, those who wish to attend the sessions are turned away with the explanation that the topics of discussion is not of "public interest". This usually happens when the committees discuss contracts with municipal properties.

This particular case was referred to Access to Information Programme (AIP) by local journalists from Varna.

Comments:
These kind of questions - about the transparency of public institutions and the ability of citizens to participate in the public debate on topics which concern them - are the ones most frequently referred to the legal team of AIP. The interest towards the activity of the local administration is particularly high and especially towards the work of municipal councils. This is perfectly understandable, since - in practice - the residents in a municipality are immediately affected by the decisions of the municipal council.

The Local Governance and Local Administration Act (LGLAA) was amended in 2003, explicitly establishing publicity of the sessions of the municipal councils and their committees¹. According to the provision of Art. 28 of the Act, citizens can attend the sessions, while seated in the specially designated places. The only provision of the Act, regulating eventual publicity restrictions is formulated too broadly: “in exceptional cases the municipal council may decide to hold private sessions.” Specific grounds for holding a council sessions behind closed doors cannot easily be determined from the above provision. They should possibly be contained in the internal rules of every municipal council, adopted under Art. 21 para. 3 of the LGLAA.

However, allowing citizens to attend the sessions of the municipal council should in no way be bound to the above requirement of "public interest". The decision whether a certain topic is of public interest is quite subjective and practically allows for an easy way of evading the law, which establishes the principles of transparency and openness of the work of the local administration.

The specified reason for restricting access of citizens and journalists - "the topic is not of public interest" - relates rather to the text of Art. 28, para. 3 of the LGLAA. The latter provision regulates the right of citizens to ask questions, give opinions, and make suggestions to the municipal council, the mayor, and local administration and to receive answers by a procedure determined by the internal rules of the municipal councils. An interpretation of this text might lead to the conclusion that when the questions, opinions or suggestions are not of public interest, citizens might not be able to submit them and to receive an answer.