Helen Darbishire, Author at Access Info Europe

14 Feb 2022

Access to meetings calendars? Access Info submits Amicus Curiae Brief to the European Court of Human Rights

Helen Darbishire2022-03-11T11:57:13+01:00

Madrid / Strasbourg, 14 February 2022 – There is strong comparative evidence from across Europe that national access to information laws apply to the meetings calendars of senior public officials according to a submission made by Access Info to the European Court of Human Rights. This evidence has been presented in the form of an Amicus Curiae (“friend of the court”) Brief submitted in relation to the case of Citizens Network Watchdog Poland vs. Poland currently under consideration by Europe’s top human rights court. This case arose when the organisation Watchdog Poland requested the calendars of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal

Access to meetings calendars? Access Info submits Amicus Curiae Brief to the European Court of Human RightsHelen Darbishire2022-03-11T11:57:13+01:00

9 Feb 2022

Brussels conceals records on recovery billions, despite transparency pledge

Helen Darbishire2022-02-09T18:34:14+01:00

Follow The Money | 09/02/2022 English - EU member states and the European Commission negotiated behind closed doors on how to spend the Covid-19 recovery fund’s 723.8 billion euros. Journalists from across the bloc requested that the Commission provide insight into those discussions. But even though it pays lip service to the importance of transparency, the Commission is refusing to disclose hundreds of documents. Read more...

Brussels conceals records on recovery billions, despite transparency pledgeHelen Darbishire2022-02-09T18:34:14+01:00

9 Feb 2022

Fondos europeos: el Gobierno español y la Comisión Europea incumplen su promesa de transparencia

Helen Darbishire2022-02-09T18:28:13+01:00

ABC | 09/02/2022 Spanish - Unas semanas antes de que la Comisión Europea aprobara el Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia en junio pasado, el presidente del Gobierno, Pedro Sánchez, comparecía ante el Congreso de los Diputados y manifestaba que España cuenta con «una serie de fiscalizaciones y de contrapesos que van a garantizar una gestión eficaz, transparente y ejemplar de unos fondos que van a cambiar España para bien». Read more...

Fondos europeos: el Gobierno español y la Comisión Europea incumplen su promesa de transparenciaHelen Darbishire2022-02-09T18:28:13+01:00

9 Feb 2022

EK odugovlači s informacijama o europskim milijardama

Helen Darbishire2022-02-09T18:19:03+01:00

Oštro | 09/02/2022 Croatian - »Plan oporavka i otpornosti treba nam pomoći da što prije prebrodimo krizu«, kazao je premijer Andrej Plenković u travnju prošle godine predstavljajući Hrvatskom saboru sažetak Nacionalnog plana otpornosti i oporavka (NPOO) za 2021. do 2026. godine. »Želimo izazove pretočiti u prilike.« Read more...

EK odugovlači s informacijama o europskim milijardamaHelen Darbishire2022-02-09T18:19:03+01:00

1 Feb 2022

Creado un grupo de expertos para reformar la ley de transparencia, promesa del bipartito

Helen Darbishire2022-02-01T12:27:59+01:00

El Independiente | 25/01/2022 Spanish - El grupo de trabajo para la reforma de la Ley de transparencia celebrará este jueves la reunión constitutiva una vez que ya han sido designados los 12 miembros que lo componen. La misión de este equipo será formular propuestas que contribuyan a mejorar la citada norma, aprobada hace ocho años durante la etapa de Mariano Rajoy y cuya modificación forma parte del contenido programático del pacto de gobierno firmado por PSOE y Unidas Podemos. Read more...

Creado un grupo de expertos para reformar la ley de transparencia, promesa del bipartitoHelen Darbishire2022-02-01T12:27:59+01:00

1 Feb 2022

Feliz Día de la Protección de Datos… con la Presidencia de su regulador por elegir

Helen Darbishire2022-02-01T12:13:40+01:00

Público | 28/01/2022 Spanish - La celebración del día de la protección de datos se ve empañada este año por la cuestión de la elección de la Presidencia y su Adjuntía de la Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD), cuyo procedimiento está profundamente reglado. Read more...

Feliz Día de la Protección de Datos… con la Presidencia de su regulador por elegirHelen Darbishire2022-02-01T12:13:40+01:00

28 Jan 2022

European Commission President’s text messages are documents and can be requested says Ombudsman

Helen Darbishire2022-01-28T15:13:58+01:00

Madrid / Brussels, 28 January 2022 – Access Info has hailed today’s decision by the European Ombudsman that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s text messages with the CEO of Pfizer about Covid vaccine purchases are documents to which the public can request access. Access Info is calling for an urgent reform to ensure that the EU’s twenty-year-old access to documents rules are brought into line with the digital age. Rather remarkably, the European Commission had told Alexander Fanta, a journalist with netzpolitik.org, that because it does not register text messages, these cannot be requested. This refusal came to a

European Commission President’s text messages are documents and can be requested says OmbudsmanHelen Darbishire2022-01-28T15:13:58+01:00

26 Jan 2022

Call for transparency in selecting head of Spanish Data Protection Agency

Helen Darbishire2022-01-26T16:31:39+01:00

Madrid, 26 January 2021 – Access Info has called on the Spanish government to guarantee a transparent, merit-based process for selection of the head and deputy head of the Spanish Data Protection Agency. Concerns about this process have arisen after allegations surfaced that the two principal political parties (the PSOE and PP) had reached an agreement on who would get the posts (a governing PSOE candidate for the position of President, an opposition PP candidate for the Deputy President position). This brought a warning from the European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski, who told El País newspaper that “the EU

Call for transparency in selecting head of Spanish Data Protection AgencyHelen Darbishire2022-01-26T16:31:39+01:00

15 Dec 2021

The Right to Know Declaration 2021: Open for endorsement!

Helen Darbishire2021-12-15T17:50:11+01:00

On 14 December 2021, The Right to Know Declaration 2021 was opened for endorsement at an event to discuss measurement of the right of access to information organised by Access Info Europe as part of the Open Government Partnership Global Summit. The Declaration is open for endorsement by civil society organisations, IGOs, governments, information commissioners, academics and other individuals, and will serve as an action agenda for the right to information community for 2022 and beyond. Organisational endorsements here / Individual endorsements here The Right to Know Declaration arose out of debates convened by UNESCO to mark International Right to

The Right to Know Declaration 2021: Open for endorsement!Helen Darbishire2021-12-15T17:50:11+01:00

15 Dec 2021

Eight leading civil society organisations banned from UN anti-corruption conference due to objections by Turkey

Helen Darbishire2021-12-15T17:25:00+01:00

Sharm El-Sheikh - Transparency International, Access Info Europe, The Good Lobby, and the UNCAC Coalition strongly condemn the exclusion of prominent civil society organisations from participating in the 9th session of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Conference of the States Parties (CoSP), currently underway in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The CoSP plenary on the morning of 15 December 2021 failed to overturn the unfounded objections by the Turkish government. Many countries from the European Union and broader Europe, Canada, the US and other regions spoke out in support of the affected NGOs. The barred organisations include Access Info Europe (Spain),

Eight leading civil society organisations banned from UN anti-corruption conference due to objections by TurkeyHelen Darbishire2021-12-15T17:25:00+01:00

About Helen Darbishire