NATIONAL TRANSPARENCY CAMPAIGNS
PROMOTING AND DEFENDING TRANSPARENCY
THROUGHOUT EUROPE
Austria Constitutional Amendment: Abolishing secrecy but failing to recognise the right to Information
Madrid, 16 June 2014 – The Austrian government is on the point of missing an historical opportunity to bring the constitution into line with international standards on the right of access to information, according to open government experts Access Info Europe. Access Info Europe today welcomed the proposal to abolish the constitutional protection of secrecy, a provision first adopted in
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office cancels court hearing and promises complete information on EU transparency negotiations
Madrid, 22 May 2014 – The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has pulled out of a case before the UK’s Information Tribunal resulting in cancellation of a court hearing due this week (20-21 May) and has agreed to provide Access Info Europe with full information on negotiations in Brussels to revise the European Union’s transparency rules. The specialised Information
Civil society call on Irish Government to commit to dropping access to information fees as part of Ireland’s 1st OGP action plan
Dublin, 14 April 2014 - Ireland's first Open Government Partneship (OGP) action plan should contain a commitment to abolish fees for making access to information requests according to civil society in an open letter to the Irish Minister for Reform, Brendan Howlin. The letter follows campaigning in late 2013 to get fees abolished, and has been published given the upcoming
Civil society calls for deeper government commitments on aid transparency ahead of High Level Meeting in Mexico
Madrid, 10 April 2014 - Ministers and heads of agencies and multilateral organisations working on development need to accelerate and deepen commitments on aid transparency according to the more than 50 civil society organisations from across the world that have signed a letter to be sent to governments before the first High Level Meeting (HLM) of the Global Partnership for
Access Info condemns German Government attempts to block dissemination of documents obtained using FOI law
Madrid, 23 January 2014 – Access Info Europe today condemned the cease and desist order sent by the German Government to information request platform FragdenStaat.de, requiring it to take offline a document written by government staff and obtained under Germany’s access to information law on the grounds of protection of copyright. The document is an opinion about a German Federal
Ireland: Campaign to block FOI fee increases successful, but unacceptable €15 up-front fee remains
Madrid/Halifax, 15 November 2013 - Intense campaigning by Irish and international civil society organisations has resulted in an important policy reversal by the Irish government. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, has withdrawn, for now at least, an amendment to the Freedom of Information Bill 2013 which threatened to charge multiple up-front fees for requests deemed to
Cover photo: Michael Levine-Clark via Flick (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)