Madrid, 20 de enero de 2012 – Hoy Access Info Europe ha acudido a una reunión en el Ministerio de la Presidencia convocada por el nuevo Secretario de Estado de Relaciones con las Cortes Generales para hablar sobre la futura ley de transparencia y acceso a la información para España. Access Info Europe ha destacado durante la reunión la necesidad de que la futura ley cubra ciertas carencias que las propuestas anteriores excluían como son el reconocimiento del derecho de acceso a la información como un derecho fundamental y la necesidad de designar un órgano independiente de revisión que garantice

Madrid, 20 January 2012 – Access Info Europe has welcomed today’s publication of the Navarra region’s draft law on Transparency and Open Government, qualifying it as a “highly progressive law” which sets new standards for Spain and internationally. The draft law was developed in consultation with the public and input from expert groups such as Access Info Europe and is now subject to a further public consultation until 7 February 2012. It contains three main sections: proactive publication, the right to request information, and public participation. “This is a strong law in line with the best access to information laws

Madrid, 20 December 2011: The new crowd-funding platform Goteo on Tuesday presented the first cheque for a successful project to Access Info, which received for €5,150 for a project to build an information request platform in Spain, in anticipation of the new access to information law expected to be adopted in the first half of 2012. The Goteo platform, whose name makes a reference to the “drop by drop” nature of crowd funding, was launched in November. In just 30 days Access Info received the minimum funding it needs for project, €4,100. At time of writing the total donated was

  Madrid, 2 Abril 2012 – España es el único país de Europa con más de un millón de habitantes que no tiene una ley de acceso a la información. Este dato explica por qué el resultado de la presentación de 113 preguntas a entidades públicas revela un decepcionante 54% de silencio administrativo, la falta de respuesta alguna por parte de las instituciones públicas españolas, a nivel nacional, autonómico y local. Desde 2010 y hasta la fecha se han realizado 5 monitoreos de transparencia  a las instituciones públicas españolas y no se ha registrado una evolución positiva desde entonces. De

The Spanish government has conceded that it failed to conquer internal resistance to its draft access to infomation law in time to meet the 2008 electoral promises to adopt a law during this legislatrure; elections are scheduled in Spain for 20 November 2011. Speaking with representatives of the NGO platform, the Coalición Pro Acceso on 10 October 2011, Spain’s Minister of the Presidency regretted the delays. The Coalition members gave feedback on the draft approved and made public by the Spanish Cabinet on 29 July 2011, including the need to have the right to information apply to all information and

Madrid 28 September 2011 – Today Access Info Europe and the Coalición Pro Acceso will hold a round table to celebrate International Right to Know Day with members of four Spanish political parties to discuss their proposals for transparency in the next legislative period.   Spain’s two major political parties, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), currently in government, and the Popular Party (PP), have both drafted proposed transparency laws yet neither of the drafts meet with the 10 basic principles for the law established by the Spanish civil society platform, the Coalición Pro Acceso.

Madrid 26th May – Last week the squares of Spanish cities were “taken” by the Spanish youth who are calling for “real democracy” and an end to corruption in the face of a system that they feel is failing them on the economy, welfare, and citizen representation. Citizens camped out in Madrid’s central square Puerta de Sol, fed up with the governments’ business-as-usual attitude to these problems, are taking matters into their own hands. The increasingly organised movement has this week formed a working group, “Transparency Law Now!” dedicated exclusively to campaigning for progress on the gridlocked Spanish access to