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Secrecy over international relations trumps transparency of EU-Turkey deal
Madrid, 8 February 2018 - The General Court of the European Union has ruled that the public does not have the right to access the European Commission’s legal advice on the March 2016 EU-Turkey agreement on returning migrants and asylum seekers from Greece to Turkey. The Commission had applied a series of exceptions to documents requested by Access Info Europe,
The documents in dispute: The European Commission’s legal advice on the EU-Turkey deal
From 7 March 2016, the day when a pre-agreement with Turkey was reached, to 12 April 2016, when the deal was already under implementation, the European Commission consulted with its legal services on a wide range of issues related to the legality of the EU-Turkey agreement. These consultations resulted in a total of 11 documents – sometimes produced at late
European Commission formalises commitment to public travel expenses
Madrid, 2 February 2018 - The European Commission has formalised its commitment, first pledged in September 2017, to make public the travel expenses of the Commissioners: on 31 January 2018 the new Code of Conduct for the Members of the European Commission was published and it confirms that mission expenses will be published every two months. This commitment in the
Access Info calls for greater transparency of Council of the EU in submission to European Ombudsman
Madrid, 3 January 2018 – Access Info has recommended that the Council of the European Union significantly increase transparency of the legislative process, in particular by providing the public with details on the positions that EU Member States take in negotiations on legislation. These recommendations were submitted to the European Ombudsman’s consultation held as part of her enquiry into transparency
European Ombudsman Decision: Commission should stop requiring requesters to provide postal addresses
Madrid, 20 December 2017 – In response to a complaint by Access Info Europe, the European Ombudsman has concluded that the European Commission’s practice of verifying the identity of persons making requests for access to documents by asking for their postal addresses is “disrespectful of citizens and their fundamental rights under the EU Charter” and constitutes "maladministration". The Ombudsman's formal
For the first time in Spanish democratic history minutes of Cabinet meetings public, thanks to an information request
Madrid, 11 December 2017 - Access Info Europe has today published on its website the minutes of Spain’s weekly Cabinet meetings for the years 1996 to 2017, making them available to the public for the first time in Spanish democratic history. The minutes, which contain the decisions reached in each weekly meeting, were obtained using information requests by Access Info
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