To celebrate International Right to Know Day on 28 September, Access Info Europe and the Coalición Pro Acceso are holding a public seminar on the right of access to information at the Complutense University in Madrid. Government transparency is a burning issue in Spain, which is the last country in Europe with a population of more than one million not to have an access to information law. On 16tAugust this year, the daily newspaper El País reported leaked information that the draft “Law on Transparency and Citizen Access to Public Information” will soon be passed to the parliament. The urgent

Madrid, 25th August 2010 — Access Info today wrote to the Spanish government asking for information about the draft “Law on Transparency and Citizen Access to Public Information”. On Monday 16th of August the press carried news that the law would soon be approved by the Council of Ministers; nothing has been heard since about the progress of the draft law. Meeting agendas of the Council of Ministers are secret in Spain until after the meeting has taken place. Access Info provided the government with comparative examples of other countries in which Cabinet meeting agendas are made public and asked

Transparency Law begins Legislative Process Behind Closed Doors Madrid, 16 August 2010 – Spanish Daily El País today announced that this Friday (20 August 2010) the Spanish Council of Ministers will consider for approval the draft “Transparency and Access of Citizens to Information Law”, thereby initiating the legislative process with leaked information. Access Info Europe condemns the leaking of the draft law to the media rather than a formal public release of the text, and has renewed its call for full debate and structured public consultation around the draft law. “To date, the only information that we have about this

Access to Information in Spain: Analysis and Guides Access Info presents four key documents which review the current Spanish legal system for access to information. As well as detailed analysis Access Info presents a guide to accessing information in Spain. In Spain there does not exist adequate regulation to recognise the right to access information. After in depth analysis it is clear that the only regulation dedicated to access to information is insufficient and does not uphold the basic principles and guarantees for access to information established at the international level.

Spanish government urged to publish draft access to information law Madrid, 3 May 2010 – On World Press Freedom Day Spain’s Coalición Pro Acceso has written to the government calling on it to publish the draft of the future access to information law. The 30-member coalition is calling on the government to publish the draft before it is sent to parliament, so that civil society can provide comments and suggestions. The Coalición Pro Acceso argues that a public debate will benefit the future law. “Publishing the draft law would be a gesture of transparency in line with the openness that

The Coalición Pro Acceso puts transparency to the test Madrid, 5 April 2010 – In order to address the lack of transparency of Spanish public bodies and the lack of an access to information law, the Coalicion Pro Acceso today launched the “100 Question Campaign”. The goal it to demonstrate the need to for greater openness of the Spanish Administration.

Supreme Court Callenge to Silence on Anti-Corruption Measures 19 January 2010: Access Info’s legal challenge against the failure of Spain’s Ministry of Justice to respond to citizens’ questions about measures to combat corruption reached the Supreme Court. Access Info is asking the Supreme Court to uphold the right of access to information. Access Info described as “absurd” the need to turn to the Supreme Court to obtain a reply to a question about an important a subject as the fight against corruption. This situation underscores the urgent need to adopt an access to information law in Spain.

Coalición Pro Acceso meets with Spanish Government 10 December 2009: On international human rights day, members of the Coalición Pro Acceso met with representatives of the Ministry of the Presidency to exchange opinions on a future Access to Information Law. They urged that this law clearly recognise the right to access to information as a fundamental right protected by the freedom of information provision of the Spanish Constitution (Article 20) and as recognized by the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The meeting lasted two hours and included a constructive and interesting exchange of

The Coalición Pro Acceso calls for an open and participatory debate around Spain’s new access to information law To mark International Right to Know Day (28 September) the Coalición Pro Acceso launched a campaign in support of access to information in Spain. The Coalición Pro Acceso yesterday wrote to President Zapatero welcoming his recent announcements confirming that the Spanish Government is preparing a law on access to information. The platform of over 30 leading Spanish NGOs and academic experts called for the drafting of the law to be transparent and participatory to ensure inclusion of the Nine Principles which the