Madrid, 14 October 2013 – “The law does not recognise access to information as a fundamental right,…a lot of information is left out,…and the oversight body is not independent“. These three serious shortcomings of the Spanish transparency law were highlighted by Victoria Anderica of Access Info Europe on the prime time Spanish TV programme El Objetivo.
In the programme, broadcast on Sunday 13 October, Victoria acknowledged that the law will help to improve the current situation in Spain, by permitting a wider transparency of public accounts.
However the shortcomings in the new legislation as it stands mean that Spain will still rank 72th out of a total of 96 countries with access to information laws. For example, the Congress and Senate are not made completely transparent under the law. “Institutions are not equally covered under the law. In the case of these two, they will only need to publish information linked to administrative tasks, leaving out information that is fundamental in understanding how decisions are being taken on laws that are being developed in these institutions” commented Victoria Anderica.
#SenadoTransparente Campaign
Amendments are currently being debated in the Senate, after a campaign by Access Info and other Spanish pro-transparency organisations, in a last ditch attempt to push for changes to the law. You can still sign the petition and find out more about the campaign here, and follow #SenadoTransparente on Twitter.
The campaign has resulted in a number of meetings with Senators, one of which was streamed live over the internet. This was the first ever live streaming of a private meeting in the Senate.
For more information
Victoria Anderica | victoria@access-info.org