Madrid, 31 July 2014 – Access Info Europe today welcomed the decision by the European Ombudsman to call for more proactive disclosure of documents to stakeholders surrounding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations, and to open investigations into the Council of the EU and EU Commission’s lack of transparency around these talks. Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has offered a range of practical measures to enable timely public access to TTIP documents, and to details of meetings with stakeholders. Referring to the pro-transparency jurisprudence established by Access Info’s case against the Council (won in October 2013) as well as by

Madrid, 25 July 2014 - Helen Darbishire and Pamela Bartlett of Access Info Europe analyse the wider consequences of the recent European Court of Justice ruling, which will make it harder to deny access to EU documents relating to international relations or to containing legal advice. The 3 July 2014 pro-transparency ruling by the European Court of Justice in the legal battle for access to negotiations between the European Union and the United States on sharing financial transaction data in order to fight terrorism, will make it harder for the EU to deny access to documents relating to international relations

Madrid, 9 July 2014 – The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is considering adopting a policy on access to clinical trials data which imposes stricter confidentiality requirements and restricts citizens’ ability to exercise the right of access to documents. The proposed policy on proactive publication of clinical trial data has caused concern for Access Info Europe and other civil society organizations, who fear that the EMA’s ‘Terms of Use’ and ‘Redaction Principles’ would constitute a step backwards for EU transparency. Health organisations and the European Ombudsman were some of the first to express their concerns on the matter [1].

Madrid/Brussels, 7 March 2014 – The European Central Bank (ECB) has once again come under fire for lack of transparency over the financial crisis, this time from the European Ombudsman who today regretted the decision not to release a letter sent to Ireland’s Finance Minister in November 2010. The ECB letter, which might reveal pressure on the Irish government to enter the EU’s bailout programme, was requested by Irish journalist and FOI activist Gavin Sheridan in December 2011 via the web platform AsktheEU.org. The request and all correspondence can be found here.

Madrid/Brussels, 7 March 2014 - Access Info Europe has welcomed the decision [1] by the European Parliament to bring greater transparency to its decision making by recording and publishing records of final voting in committee. Previously most committee votes were taken by a simple show of hands and were not recorded. The decision, adopted on 26 February 2014, applies to all final votes on resolutions and legislation. It also makes it compulsory to record and publish the final votes by MEPs in plenary on non-binding resolutions. “This decision will make it easier for citizens to hold MEPs to account, and

Madrid, 27 February 2014 – Access Info Europe today joined European civil society organisations campaigning for pledges from European Parliament election candidates to support the 10 point Charter of Digital Rights. This campaign is run EDRi, a network of European civil rights organisations defending digital rights. Between 22 and 25 May 2014, European Parliament elections will take place in 28 Member States. The next five years will be hugely important for digital rights, with legislation expected on copyright, cybercrime, data protection and surveillance. The campaign aims to put digital civil rights issues firmly on the agenda of the election campaigns

Brussels, 24-26 January 2014 – This year’s Hackathon of the European Parliament, attended by Access Info Europe and other activists and programmers, resulted in an interactive visualisation of MEP assets declarations. Other projects by participants included an application for analysing voting, an application for searching declarations of interests, and a website that allows you to see which subjects have been tackled by the EU parliament over the past legislature. At the Hackathon, Access Info took part in the project to visualise the assets declarations of MEPs, helping to create an informative and interactive visualisation for citizens to see how many

Madrid, 2 October 2013 – In the run up to the European Parliament elections in May 2014, Access Info has today written to all 766 Members of the European Parliament informing them of opinion poll findings which show huge support for transparency in the areas such as the financial crisis and lobbying by business. Over 80 % of the public wants greater transparency in areas such as Council decision-making, legal opinions on future laws, and spending of EU funds. Access Info has also submitted to MEPs recommendations from the public which make clear that greater access to information must be