Madrid, 20 December 2016 – Access Info Europe has welcomed the European Ombudsman’s recommendation that the European Commission systematically obtain consent to publish the names of public officials charged with decision-making on public procurement prior to their appointment.
Madrid, 2 de diciembre de 2016 – Access Info Europe lleva a la Comisión Europea ante el Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea (TJUE) para obtener el análisis jurídico que recibió esta institución sobre el controvertido acuerdo UE-Turquía sobre la devolución de refugiados a Turquía. El acuerdo del 18 de marzo de 2016 – oficialmente, una “declaración”, y que está teniendo un impacto directo en las vidas de miles de migrantes y demandantes de asilo que huyen de la guerra – fue muy criticado por las organizaciones de defensa de los derechos humanos por no cumplir con los estándares
Madrid, 28 de septiembre 2016 - En el primer día oficialmente reconocido como Día Internacional del Derecho a Saber[1], los grupos de la sociedad civil europea que trabajan a favor del derecho de acceso a la información han mostrado su preocupación por cómo la falta de transparencia gubernamental está perjudicando los procesos democráticos y por lo tanto suscitando la desconfianza y el surgimiento de populismos demagógicos en Europa. El estudio reciente por parte de las organizaciones de la sociedad civil del proceso de acceso a la información ha demostrado que, aunque ha habido algunos progresos en este campo –existen actualmente
[UPDATE - 8 November 2016 - On 2 November 2016 ALTER-EU responded to the Ad Hoc Ethics Committee opinion which said Barroso’s new role at Goldman Sachs International was not a breach of the rules. Read the statement here.] [UPDATE - 13 October 2016 - On 12 October 2016 ALTER-EU handed over to to Secretary-General Alexander Italianer the 63,000 signatures gathered through the WeMove petition Barroso, don’t sell our public interest to Goldman Sachs, demanding greater ethics and transparency and to put a stop to revolving doors.] Madrid-Brussels, 30 September 2016 - The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU)
Madrid/Brussels, 28 September 2016 - The European Commission has today published its proposal for a new inter-institutional agreement on the lobby transparency register [1], and the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) makes the following reaction: "The Commission’s response is too little too late. If you look at the political situation in Europe, the Commission should do its utmost to regain public trust. People want to know who their leaders are really working for, especially in the light of the scandals of former Commissioners Barroso and Kroes taking on high-level jobs with big multinational companies. This could have
Madrid, 26 September 2016 - The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) has published a recap briefing for journalists about the limitations to the current EU lobby transparency register regime, in preparation for the expected proposal on a new register following a College of Commissioners meeting on 28 September. The briefing by ALTER-EU, of which Access Info Europe is a steering committee member, addresses questions such as will the new register be "mandatory" in reality? Will the Commission get to grips with the current lobby register's problem with dodgy data? And what is the added value of bringing
Madrid, 14 September 2016 - Access Info Europe has welcomed the decision by the European Commission not to repeat August's automatic "out-of-office" style message warning requesters that there might be delays in processing their requests due to the summer holidays. This decision came after Access Info's Executive Director Helen Darbishire sent a letter to the Commission on 1 September 2016 expressing concerns about the automatic response, which read "Due to the holiday period in August, some delays may occur in the treatment of your access-to-documents request." In a rapid reply sent on 7 September 2016, the head of the EU's
Madrid, 5 September 2016 – Access Info has submitted recommendations to the Council of Europe on how to improve its Draft guidelines for meaningful civil participation in political decision-making so as to ensure that records are kept and that there is timely publication of relevant documents. This recommendation comes after research across Europe by Access Info and partners revealed abysmal levels of record keeping. For example, of 21 decision-making processes in nine countries, for half of them (10) no minutes of meetings had been created. Similarly, the research found that for only four of 34 processes were documents submitted by
Madrid, 2 September 2016 - Since the beginning of August, requesters of access to EU documents may have noticed the following automated messages from the Secretariat General warning them about possible delays to dealing with requests: “Due to the holiday period in August, some delays may occur in the treatment of your access-to-documents request, especially where the processing of data requires the consultation of national administrations, external organisations or other services.” So far during August, Access Info has counted 22 instances of this specific message appearing on the AsktheEU.org request platform. It is unacceptable for citizens to have to anticipate
Madrid, 14 July 2016 - European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly today published key recommendations calling on the EU institutions to increase transparency of negotiations over future legislation, the EU’s traditionally secretive “trilogue” meetings. Access Info welcomed O’Reilly’s call for proactive publication of key information to shed light on this secretive part of the EU legislative process, noting that the EU treaties require openness in the legislative process. “It is high time the EU institutions act upon the fact trilogues are part of the EU legislative process and subject them to the same standards of transparency, public scrutiny, and participation as any