Access Info’s European Union Press Releases

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2011

16 of 27 Member States refuse to provide information on EU transparency negotiations

Brussels/Madrid, Monday 21 March 2011 – European citizens can’t find out from either Brussels or from national governments which countries are lobbying against EU transparency, according to a report launched by the NGO Access Info Europe this week. Read more…

General Court of the European Union rules refusal illegitimate – Access Info wins vs. EU Council

Brussels/Madrid, Monday 22 March 2011 – The General Court of the European Union today found that the Council of the EU wrongly refused to disclose the identity of countries taking positions on reform of the EU’s access to documents rules. Read more…

Global Call for MEPs to Protect the Transparency of the European Union

Over 180 organisations, journalists and campaigners call for MEPs to reject measures to limit public access to information

28 January, Brussels/London/Madrid – 131 non-governmental organisations along with 56 investigative journalists, academics, and access to information campaigners from 48 countries in Europe and beyond are calling on Members of the European Parliament to act urgently to protect EU transparency rules. The call comes as the European Union engages in a review of its access to documents regulation that could result in freedom of information being severely curtailed across Europe.

Campaign against narrowing of EU Access to Documents Rules – Sign the open letter to MEPs

18 January 2011, Madrid – Access Info Europe this week called for signatures for an open letter to Members of the European Parliament as part of its campaign to stop narrowing of the EU’s rules on access to documents, Regulation 1049/2001.

2010

EU’s Directorate General for Trade urged to improve internal access guidelines

Madrid, 8 April 2010 – Access Info Europe and Corporate Europe Observatory this week submitted a new round of comments to the EU’s Directorate General for Trade on its internal guidelines for access to documents, the controversial “Vademecum” first leaked to the public in March 2009 and revised by DG Trade in June 2009 following a strong reaction by the public. Read more…

Montenegrin Government Releases EU Accession Questionnaire

Madrid/Brussels/Podgorica, 14 April 2010 – Access Info Europe and MANS welcome the release on Monday, 12 April 2009, by the Montenegrin government of its replies to the European Union’s pre-accession questionnaire, which were submitted to the European Commission in December 2009. The two civil society organisations had previously been refused access by the European Commission and the Montenegrin government respectively, and had launched litigation against the refusal. Read more…

2009

Ireland, Germany, Spain lagging behind on police transparency

Madrid, 26 November 2009 ― Ireland is the only country in Europe to exclude the police from the scope of its freedom of information law, in Germany the right to know does not apply to all police forces, and Spain is the largest EU country without an access to information law and so no public right to obtain information from the police. These findings are contained in report by Access Info called “The Right to Know: Europe and the Police”. Read more…

Report: Internal Guides and DG Practices Discourage Access to EU Documents

19 November 2009 – Access Info and Corporate Europe Observatory will be meeting with DG Trade to discuss its controversial internal guide on access to documents, leaked in April and amended in June following protests from civil society. Particularly controversial was the guidance (now deleted) on not recording relations with industry lobbyists: such as “don’t refer to the great lunch you have had with an industry representative privately or add a PS asking if he/she would like to meet for a drink”. Read more…

Council of the European Union refuses to release legal advice

Madrid/Brussels, 24 March 2009 ― Going against rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the «Turco case», the Council of the European Union has refused to release legal advice about its proposed reforms to the EU access to documents rules. Access Info yesterday (23 March 2009) filed a legal appeal against this refusal arguing that recent decisions of the ECJ make clear that legal advice relating to the legislative process should be made public. Read more…

Say No To Secret Laws!

Madrid, 11 March 2009 – Access Info welcomes a European Court of Justice ruling striking down rules governing what cannot be carried onto aircraft, which for years after they were first adopted in 2002 were kept secret, violating the fundamental principle that a law is not a law until it has been published. Read more…

EU conceals government positions on reform of transparency rules

Madrid, 20 January 2009 ― An attempt by the European Union to conceal the positions taken by individual member governments on the reform of EU transparency rules has met with a legal challenge by Access Info Europe. The human rights organization argues that the public has a right to know whether their elected representatives are acting in discussions on the future transparency Europe’s super-state. Read more…