The European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, has invited feedback from individuals, NGOs, business associations and other organisations on the transparency of "trilogues".

Trilogues are informal negotiations between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission aimed at reaching agreements on new EU legislation.

The public consultation will feed into the European Ombudsman's overall assessment of what steps can be taken to make trilogues more transparent.  

Ms O'Reilly stated: "Trilogues are where the deals are done. The vast majority of draft EU laws now pass through the trilogue process before being finalised. Europeans have a right to an EU law-making process that is as open as possible, while elected representatives also need the space to negotiate. This public consultation will enable us to consider as many viewpoints as possible before deciding on the next step in the inquiry."

Emily O'Reilly opened an investigation into the transparency of trilogues in May. She asked the three institutions about their proactive disclosure policies on trilogue documents.

The Parliament, Council and Commission have each submitted their opinions on the transparency of trilogues. The ombudsman has also inspected two sample trilogue files concerning recently adopted legislation - the Clinical Trials Regulation and the Mortgage Credit Directive - in all three institutions.

The public consultation can be found here. The deadline for submitting comments is 31 March 2016.