Madrid, 24 April 2019 – For several years, as a member of the Poletika platform, Access Info Europe has evaluated the transparency commitments in the election manifestos of Spain’s political parties.

These evaluations are published on Poletika’s webpage as part of the section on Democratic Quality (in Spanish: Calidad Democrática).

In line with our commitment to transparency, we are publishing the methodology by which we made these evaluations. The evaluation is divided into five sub categories of equal importance, each assessed on a 2-point rating system for a total of 10 possible points.

  1. Recognition of access to information as a fundamental right and adoption of an organic law
  2. Eliminating the need for requesters to identify themselves and/or simplifying the system of registration in the portal so that all may make requests
  3. Including the Legislative and Judicial powers in the scope of the access to information law.
  4. Regulation of lobbies and interest groups in line with international standards
  5. Adoption and implementation of an anti-corruption law that includes protection of whistleblowers in line with the standards of the future European Union directive.

The results for each party (in alphabetical order):

C´s: Manifesto commitments 8 and 21 mentions improvement of fundamental rights, which include the right to access to information, and the adoption of an organic law. They do not mention the simplification of the request process or the elimination of digital identification for citizens. In their 27th commitment they mention the independence of judicial power and the election of its members.  Nevertheless, they fail to mention the inclusion of Legislative Power and Judicial Power within the remit of the Transparency Law. Their 22nd commitment establishes the regulation of lobbyists and interest groups, who would be required to publish the agendas of all their officials. Finally, they have produced various methods to fight corruption (commitments 12 to 33) among which we would highlight the ban on holding office for those convicted of corruption and the creation of a protective law for whistle-blowers.

PP: There are no commitments related to the first or second sub-category. In their 390th commitment the PP stresses the strengthening of the independence of the judicial power and improving the election of its members. Nevertheless, they do not include judicial or legislative powers within the remit of the Transparency Law. In their 414th commitment, they mention the regulation of interest groups; however, they do not mention directly the publication of the agendas of public officials. There is no mention of a special law or dedicated methods to fight corruption or protect whistle-blowers.

PSOE:  There is no commitment that corresponds to the first or second sub-categories. In their commitment 4.31 they mention the strengthening of the independence of judicial power, establishing a system of appointment based on merit and capability. Nevertheless, they do not include judicial or legislative powers within the remit of the Transparency Law. In their commitment 4.28, they mention the reform of the regulation of congress that should include the regulation of interest groups or lobbies. However, they do not mention directly the publication of the agendas of public officials. They have made various commitments to fight corruption, the majority of which are included between commitments 4.19-4.25, which highlight the promotion of a multi-party agreement that would include a comprehensive law to fight corruption and protect whistle-blowers.

UP: There is no commitment that corresponds to the first or second sub-categories. In their 145th commitment they mention the reformation of the General Council on Judicial Power to guarantee the Independence of Power through the election of its members on the basis of merit, capacity, gender parity, and by the endorsement of citizens. Nevertheless, they do not include the judicial or legislative powers within the remit of the Transparency Law. In their 111th commitment they refer to the regulation of lobbies and making their political impact transparent, including the publication of meetings held with public officials. In their 112th commitment they suggest a National Plan to fight corruption that would include a focus on the criminal activity of illegally profiting from being in public office, the strengthening of the agencies dedicated to the fight against corruption, and granting political autonomy to those charged with supervising the implementation of the plan; there is, however, no mention of a law that would establish protection for whistleblowers.

VOX: There is no mention of improvement of transparency in their manifesto commitments.