Euobserver | 09/11/2017 English - There will be no permanent record of how EU member states voted in the relocation process of two London-based EU agencies, it emerged on Thursday (9 November). Read more...
Luxembourg, 8 November 2017 – Access Info Europe had a hearing today in the General Court of the European Union in the case for access to documents it brought against the Commission, seeking access to certain documents containing legal analysis and advice relating to the EU-Turkey refugee return deal. This case started at the very same time as the EU-Turkey deal was reached (EU summit 17-18 March 2016) in the face of concerns raised by key human rights bodies such as the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner and the UNHCR about the deal’s content. "Our goal was to get
El diario.es | 06/11/2017 Spanish - Transparencia Internacional España ha constatado que el nivel de transparencia en las instituciones públicas ha experimentado una "cierta mejora" pero ha alertado que, pese a ello, el nivel de incumplimiento de la normativa legal sobre contratos sigue siendo "demasiado alto y preocupante". Read more...
Date: 20-21/11/2017 Place: Brussels
Date: 27/10/2017 Place: Faculty of Law, University of Seville
THE FRUITFUL OUTCOMES OF A SINGLE REQUEST CABINET AGENDAS + DATA JOURNALISM: IRREGULAR PAYMENTS REVEALED In March 2017, leading Spanish newspaper El Confidencial published an exclusive story revealing the Spanish Cabinet’s review of irregularities in public procurement contracts. This story was made possible thanks to a single access to information request by Access Info Europe, leading to a collaboration with data journalist Jesús Escudero. When, in June 2016, Alba Gutiérrez of Access Info submitted an access to information request for the agendas for the regular Friday morning meetings of Spain’s Cabinet (“Council of Ministers”)
Madrid, 17 October 2017 - Access Info Europe has criticised the European Parliament’s refusal to disclose information in full relating to the revision of Member of the European Parliament’s General Expenditure Allowance (GEA), following an access to EU documents request. The Parliament Bureau’s ‘Ad hoc Working Group on the GEA’ denied access to a note containing the background, advice, and proposals for the rules, and a list of questions to be discussed, fearing that disclosure of the information would make it unable to reach a decision on the review of MEP allowances. “The refusal to recognise the overriding public interest
El Confidencial | 15/10/2017 Spanish - El ministerio de Fátima Báñez ha llevado a los tribunales al Consejo de Transparencia para ocultar esta información. De los 67 juicios de este tipo, 46 han sido iniciados por la Administración. Read more...
Madrid, 5 October 2017 – Access Info Europe has welcomed the inclusion of core access to information principles in the Council of Europe’s Guidelines on public participation in decision making. The Guidelines, published last week on the eve of Right to Know Day (27 September 2017), include two of the pro-transparency organisation’s recommendations submitted during the 2016 public consultation: the need for timely provision of information and the narrow application of possible exceptions to access. “With the adoption of these guidelines, members of the Council of Europe must push to bridge the gap between citizens and decision makers, by enabling
Brussels, 29 September 2017 – Members of the European Parliament together with CSOs, academics, and journalists from across the EU have called for greater openness of decision making and full transparency of spending of public funds in the final declaration of an International Right to Know Day event held on 28 September 2017. The closing statement of the expert, high-level event, organised by the European Parliament’s cross-party Transparency and Anti-Corruption Intergroup (ITCO) along with Access Info Europe and Anticor Belgium, also called for full respect for the right of access to information, and urged all EU Member States to align