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 citizens the tools they need to identify where improvements to fighting corruption can be made, and hold their national representatives to account,” stated Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe.
Ahead of the EU’s 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the decision to drop the reports was announced in a letter to the European Parliament by First Vice-President Frans Timmermans. The decision came as EU Member States such as Hungary, Poland and elsewhere see severe threats to their democratic systems and serious backsliding on anti-corruption reform.
A copy of the letter can be found here: 
The request for access to the EU anti-corruption reports can be found here.
For more information, please contact:
Luisa Izuzquiza, Communications Officer | Access Info Europe
or
Helen Darbishire, Executive Director | Access Info Europe
Send an e-mail or call +34 913 656 558
Photo: European Parliament via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)