Putting all political documents, even the most sensitive, in the archives, while packing one’s ministerial bags, is still not legally obligatory. Too bad for transparency and democratic life.
“A small paper for me, a big paper for humanity”: this is what the ministers might think who, shortly after the elections last June, emptied cupboards and computers of the documents they contained, before transmitting them to their successor, to the administration, or to an archive fund. It’s crazy how much a cabinet handles, during a legislature, like papers, letters, digitized documents! What to do with it? “The law still considers these documents as archives falling under private law”details Camille Lacroix, project manager at the Association of French-speaking archivists of Belgium(AAFB). Legally, ministers who complete their mission are therefore not required to transmit anything to anyone, if they do not wish to leave a trace of their time in power. “The payment of these documents at the end of the mandate therefore depends at the good will of the minister or mayor outgoing, since the same rule applies at the local level.”
“Archiving is guarantee transparent governanceinsist the French-speaking archivists of Belgium. It is a work of public utility. It’s also about protecting citizens.” In 2023, the parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation certainly legislated to make the transmission of ministerial archives compulsory. In Brussels, although an ordinance pursuing a similar goal has been announced since 2009, its latest version has not yet been voted on. In the Walloon Region, the decree relating to public archives, dated 2001, has never been supplemented by implementing orders. And at the federal level, nothing like that exists.
“The law still considers these documents as archives falling under private law.”
However, there is nothing automatic about submitting one’s ministerial archives upon leaving office. An AAFB survey showed that between 2003 and 2023, only 42% French-speaking ministers, at all levels of power combined, had transmitted their archives upon their departure (1). On this point, the report from Ministers Ecolo and DéFI was perfect. The Engaged party had preserved archives for nearly 70% of its mandates, while the MR and the PS were below 35%.
No external control
One year later, how did the outgoing ministers of the Walloon Region and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation proceed? Have they transmitted their ministerial archives? If so, which ones and to whom?
It is indeed from Ecolo that the responses come the fastest and are the most complete. “I have deposited my digital archives in the Etopia fund, which provides for consultation and payment into the public domain after 30 yearsexplains Philippe Henry, former Walloon Minister of Climate, Infrastructure, Energy and Mobility. I have also created takeover/handover files for my successors for current files.” The same for Céline Tellier, who had Walloon supervision over the Environment: “The archives of my office were transmitted to the archives services of the Walloon Region. My personal archives in the Etopia archives,” she says. “As environmentalists, we attach great importance to the transparency of public decisions, for which meticulous archiving is necessary,” adds Bénédicte Linard, former French-speaking minister in charge in particular of Culture and Children. The continuity of the State is for us a fundamental principle.”
Willy Borsus (MR), former Walloon Minister of Economy and Agriculture, also transferred the current files to his successor and referred “a certain number of files” to the various administrations. Which ones? How were they sorted? For the moment, no external control has been put in place for this sorting..
At the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, the former minister-president Pierre-Yves Jeholet (MR) thus transmitted the closed files and the accounting to the administration. The archives relating to personnel management, which cannot be kept under the GDPR, are part of the Court of Auditors and the current cases have been handed over to the current Minister-President, Elisabeth Degryse (Les Engagés).
In the Walloon Region, each minister determines the terms of conservation, accessibility and valorization of the deposited archives. As part of an agreement established between him and the regional archives service, it is the minister himself who sets the time when the documents transmitted will be made accessible. Until the deadline is reached, the archives can only be consulted by this depositary and its possible principal, as well as by the staff of this service, bound by professional secrecy. Each minister can even have the boxes sealed of documents that he entrusts to the regional archives service!
“Transmitting dozens of boxes of documents in front of the cameras that no one will ever consult makes no sense.”
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“Some fear, by handing over ministerial archives, a possible backlash,” recognizes Florian Delabie, president of the AAFB. But transmitting these documents does not imply that they are immediately accessible to the general public or to researchers. There is a period defined by law, generally 30 yearsand the general data protection regulation (GDPR) continues to apply.”
The Covid crisis in archives on the Walloon side
Among the outgoing socialist and French-speaking ministers, Caroline Désir, who was in charge of Education, indicates that she transmitted all important documents to the administration during the legislature and ensured the transition of current files to the one that took over. , Valérie Glatigny (MR). Christie Morreale, former Walloon Minister of Employment and Health, relied on “paper” and digital archives at the same time, ceded to the administration and the next minister. “The 35 boxes of files linked to the Covid crisis have been deposited in the archives of the public service of Wallonia.”
This is what is at stake, through the conservation of these documents intrinsically linked to the exercise of power: storing them somewhere to allow, one day, access to them, in an approach of historical heritage but also operational interest. “Regarding the Covid crisis,” insists Florian Delabie, “we have never had proof that the archives of the cabinet De Block (public health, Open VLD) or Wilmès (Prime Minister, MR) had been kept somewhere so that lessons can be learned from it. In this case, it is not a question of judging what was done well or badly, but of document the decision-making process so as not to make the same mistakes again.»
As for the Dolimont (MR) cabinet, Walloon Minister of Finance and Budget until July 2024, the storage of paper archives is considered “ineffective”. “Transmitting dozens of boxes of documents in front of the cameras that no one will ever consult makes no senseestimates its spokesperson, Stéphanie Wyard. In the digital age, we can always find everything, in one form or another, in the administration or in parliamentary documents. In any case, no outgoing Walloon minister has in his possession information that would not be found elsewhere, nor has he caused difficulty in the functioning of the next minister.”
When it comes to fiscal policy, some might argue that only the budget ultimately adopted matters, regardless of the political negotiations that preceded it. An opinion not shared by archivists for whom, precisely, the political decision-making process can prove very instructive. Even if everyone agrees that not every document is necessarily worth keeping. And can therefore be destroyed.
“Top secret” documents can remain inaccessible to researchers and the public for 50 years.
A note from the Public Service of Wallonia distributed to cabinets before the end of the last legislature clearly specified the type of files that could be the subject of an archive transfer. In addition to documents that are by definition public, such as speeches or press releases, documents of a confidential nature but relating to the management of public affairs are also likely to be archived. Internal cabinet notes are explicitly cited, such as general policy notes from the minister, minutes of cabinet and intercabinet meetings, minutes of meetings of heads of cabinet, as well as preparatory notes for government meetings. . There is no indication that all these pieces are currently well preserved.
Some of them are of course extremely sensitive. Thus files covered by federal secrecy for, for example, diplomatic or military questions. Thus documents relating to arms export licenses, on a Walloon scale. Three long-term confidentiality thresholds can be applied to them: 20 years for confidential documents, 30 years for secret documents and 50 years for top secret documents. Their declassification may possibly be decided earlier, if approved archivists, bound by a strict code of ethics, consider that this long-term embargo is no longer necessary. Provided, of course, that these documents, always considered private, have been archived…
(1) Survey carried out among all public and private archives centers likely to have received ministerial archives, with the exception of the Jean Gol Center, attached to the MR, which did not participate.
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