Access Info Europe is leading a new campaign to create Open Government Standards and promote them around the world. The idea is to set standards on what open, transparent, accountable and participatory government really means.
Open Government is a hot topic right now, but what does it really mean in practice? What should governments be doing in the areas of Transparency, Participation and Accountability to qualify as “open governments”? What are the uses of new communications technologies which really advance openness as opposed to merely perpetuating existing bureaucratic practices in a digital environment?
Over the next few months, we aim to answer those questions, drawing together all the standards already developed by civil society into a coherent structure around the emerging concept of open government.
Our aim is to reach an agreement on the basic elements of what constitutes open government so that we can call on our governments to meet this standard. The Open Government Standards will be designed for all countries, with a particular relevance for members of the Open Government Partnership.
We will also identify the actions that governments should take in order to make real progress in promoting the three core pillars of open government:
Transparency, accountability, and participation.
Share your opinion on AsktheEU.org!
AsktheEU.org is an interactive platform created by Access Info Europe, in collaboration with MySociety to help members of the public get information from the European Union.
On the 1 year anniversary - 28 September 2012 we will publish the report on its functioning including information about how the EU institutions handle requests.
Meanwhile AsktheEU team is working on improving the site. We would like to hear your feedback, as a user, so that we can prioritise the improvements based on your needs.
Please, fill out our form and share your opinion about AsktheEU.org
Meanwhile AsktheEU team is working on improving the site. We would like to hear your feedback, as a user, so that we can prioritise the improvements based on your needs.
Workshop on citizen lobby and the regulation of lobby groups
Access Info is organising a workshop on citizen lobby and the regulation of lobbyists, in Navacerrada, near Madrid, Spain, on the 3 (reception) and 4 September.
A "Citizen Lobby"
The bad reputation of lobby groups is a result of the frequent flirtation between political and economic powers that can threaten representative democracy by undermining the public interest during political decision-making. However, lobbying is within the reach of everyone and the idea of a “citizen lobby” is a key concept in returning power to the citizens, the protagonists of democracy.
The workshop will aim to look for solutions to encourage citizen participation in the decision making process and will take inspiration from the techniques employed by large interest groups to influence the decisions of our politicians, in order that citizens can emulate these techniques in defence of the common interest when laws are being drafted.
Regulation of lobby groups
So that citizens can participate on equal terms with professional lobbyists, the creation of a register of lobbyists in Spain is essential. The register would provide greater transparency and would allow citizens to know who is putting pressure on political representatives, in what form, and for what purpose..
The debate about the regulation of lobby groups has already started in Spain. The Izquierda Plural (Plural Left) group presented a draft bill for the creation of a lobby register in February 2012, while the Partido Popular (Popular Party) has an interest in including it in the new draft Transparency Law. In the Navacerrada workshop, we will discuss the different ways to regulate lobby groups that already exist in other countries in order to defend a Spanish campaign in favour of adequate regulation and transparency of lobby groups.
Documentos sobre el taller:
New opaque step in the adoption of Spain's Access to Information Law
6 August 2012, Madrid-The current version of the legislative bill on Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Governance has now been published by the Spanish government. Please, see links below to access the updated bill:
The legislative bill on Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Governance (27 July 2012)
Comparing the text of the draft Law on Transparency with its previous version (by TuDerechoaSaber)
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