ADVOCATING FOR GREATER TRANSPARENCY IN THE EU
WE SHINE A LIGHT ON EU INSTITUTIONS AND DECISION MAKING
WE PROMOTE TRANSPARENCY IN EU DECISION MAKING...
since citizens have the right to know about how decisions are takenWE TACKLE THE
ABUSIVE APPLICATION
OF EXCEPTIONS...
because only in limited cases should the EU apply exceptions to access WE CHALLENGE
PRACTICAL OBSTACLES TO
ACCESS INFORMATION...
so that submitting requests is simple and straightforward for everyone
OUR LATEST UPDATES ON EU TRANSPARENCY
New lobby transparency civic-tech tools reveal corporate dominance of the Brussels bubble
Madrid, 25 June 2015 - The RTI community celebrated this week the launch of two groundbreaking online tools that enable citizens to monitor the interactions between high-level European Commission officials and lobbyists in the Brussels bubble: » LobbyFacts.eu, created by ALTER-EU's Corporate Europe's Observatory, Friends of the Earth Europe and LobbyControl, and relaunched last week, is a site that delivers
European Commission urged to act to improve transparency
Madrid, 24 June 2015 – In a letter to European Commission Vice-President Timmermans as part of an ongoing dialogue, Access Info Europe has called for action to improve EU transparency in law and in practice. The pro-transparency organisation stressed the urgent need to bring the EU’s access to documents rules into line with international standards, and raised concerns about problems
European Commission fails to prove the need for its postal addresses policy
Madrid, 19 June 2015 – Access Info Europe this week expressed concern at the European Commission’s insistence on maintaining its obstructive requirement for all documents requesters to provide their postal addresses, after the Commission admitted in response to parliamentary questions that the policy is based on just one case of “abuse” over the past 14 years. Answering a parliamentary question
Access Info Europe welcomes European Ombudsman investigation into excessive secrecy of “trilogues”
Madrid, 28 May 2015 - Access Info Europe today welcomed the decision by the European Ombudsman to investigate the lack of transparency of “trilogues”, the informal and secretive negotiations between the EU’s Commission, Council and Parliament by which much future legislation is decided. In spite of their crucial role in the legislative process, trilogues are closed meetings, and there is
AsktheEU.org and the EU Institutions: The Challenge of running an Alaveteli Request Platform
Madrid, 22 May 2015 - Following AlaveteliCon 2015 in Madrid on 19-20 May, Access Info Europe’s director Helen Darbishire, reflects on 3.5 years of running the AsktheEU.org website for making documents requests to the European Union. In particular she notes the successes, challenges and lessons learned about the relationship with the EU Institutions and public officials. Access Info Europe launched
Civil society secures European Parliament support for transparency of mineral imports
Madrid, 22 May 2015 – The European Parliament this week took a strong stance in favour of binding rules on transparency for the mineral extraction industry, following a letter sent to MEPs signed by 157 civil society organisations, including Access Info Europe, calling for action to tackle the deadly trade in conflict minerals. The civil society letter called on MEPs