The Secret is Out: Accounting for Variation in the European Union's Rules of Transparency

In the European Union, the area of foreign policy is largely managed according to intergovernmental principles. As a result, the role of the European Parliament faces greater hurdles in scrutinising and controlling the external activities of Union. This is made more difficult by the strict rules of secrecy that cloak foreign policy, a trait not unique to the EU. Following the Eurocrisis, the member states established a range of new mechanisms through intergovernmental agreement, such as the European Stability Mechanism and the Fiscal Compact. This paper compares and assesses the arrangements for information and oversight in these two intergovernmental policy areas with the goal of determining the type of accountability regime in place, to what extent the ensuing practices are democratic and why (not).