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28 Jul 2017

Ombudsman asked to investigate refusal to publish legal advice on the legal basis for EU lobby register

2018-11-13T10:03:18+01:00

Madrid/Brussels, 28 July 2017 – With upcoming negotiations on reforming the state of EU lobbying transparency imminent, the legal advice given to the Commission and Council on the legal basis for lobby reform is back under the spotlight following appeals this week to the EU Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly. Access Info Europe's and MEP Dennis de Jong's parallel complaints to the EU watchdog challenge the refusals by the two institutions to make transparent their legal advice on whether or not it’s possible under the EU Treaties to set up a mandatory EU lobby register with sanctions. “Civil society and MEPs are

Ombudsman asked to investigate refusal to publish legal advice on the legal basis for EU lobby register2018-11-13T10:03:18+01:00
27 Jul 2017

Transparency of Commissioners’ travel expenses “disproportionate” says European Commission

2018-11-13T10:03:18+01:00

Madrid, 27 July 2017 – Access Info has described as extremely regrettable that six months after 120 European citizens requested access to last year’s travel expenses of the 28 EU Commissioners, the Commission has taken a unilateral decision to disclose data just for January and February 2016, and that it will not contemplate any greater transparency. Furthermore, in response to our letter to Vice President Timmermans proposing that this data be published proactively, the Commission has concluded that it “does not see added value in publishing online the detailed travel expenses” as the cost of processing the data “would be

Transparency of Commissioners’ travel expenses “disproportionate” says European Commission2018-11-13T10:03:18+01:00
21 Jul 2017

EU’s top court confirms that all documents held by European Commission fall under access to documents rules

2018-11-13T10:03:19+01:00

Madrid, 21 July 2017 - Access Info Europe welcomed this week’s ruling from the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union, that the Commission cannot automatically refuse access to whole categories of documents in its possession. The Court confirmed that the EU institutions should always apply the EU’s access to documents rules to any documents they hold, regardless of the original authors. “Sometimes it’s important to confirm basic principles of this fundamental right, such as that if the Commission holds a document, it has to process a request, and there can never be automatic denials, no

EU’s top court confirms that all documents held by European Commission fall under access to documents rules2018-11-13T10:03:19+01:00
20 Jun 2017

Requesters appeal to EU Ombudsman for access to Commissioners’ expenses

2018-11-13T10:03:19+01:00

Madrid, 20 June 2017 - Access Info Europe and 53 requesters from across Europe appealed to the European Ombudsman about the European Commissions’ failure to register, process, and respond to requests for the 2016 travel expenses of EU Commissioners submitted five months ago, in January 2017. The joint complaint highlights the Commission’s four major violations of the EU transparency rules: (1) the failure to even register 152 of the requests; (2) the failure to process 188 of the requests; (3) failing to respond to 51 appeals; (4) for outright refusals to process requests for President Juncker, the Vice President Timmermans,

Requesters appeal to EU Ombudsman for access to Commissioners’ expenses2018-11-13T10:03:19+01:00
9 May 2017

EU Urged to Adopt Comprehensive Transparency Agenda

2018-11-13T10:03:20+01:00

Madrid/Brussels, 9 May 2017 – On Europe Day, Access Info is calling on the European Union to commit to and implement essential transparency and open government reforms to reverse the growing sense among European citizens that they are distanced from Brussels and that decisions are taken behind closed doors with little or no accountability. Access Info’s mapping, carried out with our partners, reveals that it is not possible for citizens to get information on decisions such as that to drop EU anti-corruption reports or who really negotiated the controversial EU-Turkey deal. Other transparency blackspots relate to areas of public interest,

EU Urged to Adopt Comprehensive Transparency Agenda2018-11-13T10:03:20+01:00
22 Mar 2017

European Civil Society Organisations Urge EU to Publish Anti-Corruption Reports

2020-01-29T11:42:44+01:00

Madrid, 22 March 2017 – Access Info Europe, Transparency International EU, and 56 other civil society organisations have urged the Commission in an open letter not to abandon its leadership role in the fight against corruption, after it dropped the publication of long-awaited anti-corruption reports of all 28 Member States earlier this year. The letter, also being sent directly to First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, comes after an access to EU documents request for the actual draft reports was submitted by 14 leading transparency and anti-corruption organisations in Europe, including Access Info. “Access to these reports is essential in giving European

European Civil Society Organisations Urge EU to Publish Anti-Corruption Reports2020-01-29T11:42:44+01:00
22 Mar 2017

European Parliament Committee supports increase in decision-making transparency

2018-11-13T10:03:21+01:00

Madrid, 22 March 2017 – Access Info Europe has cautiously welcomed this week’s adoption of the report on ‘Transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions’ by the European Parliament Constitutional Affairs Committee. The report by Sven Giegold MEP takes important steps to improve record keeping and decision-making transparency by calling for the Council to publish the position of member states in minutes of working group meetings, as well as ensure documents created during trilogues (informal talks on legislation between the three main EU institutions) are made directly available online by the Parliament. “MEPs must now build upon the steps

European Parliament Committee supports increase in decision-making transparency2018-11-13T10:03:21+01:00
17 Mar 2017

Parliament inaction on lobby transparency could sink register reform

2018-11-13T10:03:40+01:00

[Article first published by the ALTER-EU] Madrid/Brussels, 17 March 2017 - The European Parliament must do more to improve lobby transparency, 100 civil society organisations urged in an open letter published today. MEPs were warned that the European Commission's current proposal for a revised EU Transparency Register would allow for even less scrutiny than the existing one, and that to champion greater transparency across all EU institutions, they must start with their own house first. A few weeks before Commission, Parliament and Council are expected to start negotiating a revision of the joint EU Transparency Register, the Alliance for Lobby

Parliament inaction on lobby transparency could sink register reform2018-11-13T10:03:40+01:00
14 Mar 2017

Enquiry about legislative transparency in the Council welcomed by Access Info

2018-11-13T10:03:40+01:00

Madrid, 14 March 2017 – Access Info Europe today expressed concern over insufficient record keeping in the Council of the EU and welcomed the launch of the European Ombudsman’s strategic enquiry into transparency of one of the EU’s key decision making institutions. A focus of the Ombudsman’s enquiry is whether the Council is complying with a 2013 judgment of the European Court of Justice,[1] a case won by Access Info Europe in which the Court ruled that the public should have access to the positions of Member States in order to permit participation in legislative processes. “Ongoing holes in Council

Enquiry about legislative transparency in the Council welcomed by Access Info2018-11-13T10:03:40+01:00
10 Mar 2017

Commissioners’ Expenses Campaign Update: EU continues to refuse to recognise requests

2018-11-13T10:03:41+01:00

Madrid, 10 March 2017 – Access Info Europe today condemned the European Commission’s refusal to process 189 requests for data on EU Commissioner’s travel expenses submitted by 120 people in January 2017. In a formal complaint sent today, Access Info alleges a serious violation of the access to documents rights of these 120 individuals by lumping all 189 requests together and then claiming that the time needed to answer would be unreasonable for one request – a total of 75.5 working days according to the Commission. The complaint rejects the “fair solution” offered by the Secretariat General of the Commission,

Commissioners’ Expenses Campaign Update: EU continues to refuse to recognise requests2018-11-13T10:03:41+01:00
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