Special Seminar on Transparency of Media Ownership
3 October 2014, Brussels, Belgium
Helen Darbishire took part in a special seminar hosted by the European Commission on media ownership transparency, pluralism and freedom that was live-streamed to facilitate virtual participation. As part of the event, Access Info Europe and Open Society Programme on Independent Journalism published new research on media ownership transparency in Europe and its neighbourhood, to put this issue on the agenda of the incoming college of European Commissioners.
Personal Democracy Forum Italia 2014
29 September, Rome, Italy
Helen Darbishire will be attending the Personal Democracy Forum Italia 2014, where she will be leading the workshop ‘Transparency: What’s beyond?’, in Rome, Italy. More information on this event here.
Report Presentation: Spain’s Lobby Situation
24 September, Madrid, Spain
Victoria Anderica attended the presentation of Transparency International’s report on Spain’s lobby situation, in the Fundación Ortega y Gasset-Marañon, in Madrid, Spain. More information on this event here.
Roadmap to Transparency Event in the European Parliament
24 September, Brussels, Belgium
Helen Darbishire attended the ‘Roadmap to Transparency Event’ along with MEP Sophie In’t Veld to discuss better access to EU documents, in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. More information coming soon…
Investigative Journalism Summer School
24-31 August 2014, Becici, Montenegro
Helen Darbishire attended the BIRN Summer School for Investigative Journalists to teach about access to information applied to journalism, in Becici, Montenegro. More information on this event here.
Panel on Lobbying Regulation and Transparency
17 July 2014, Berlin, Germany
Helen Darbishire took part in the panel on Lobbying Regulation and Transparency at the OKFEst in Berlin. More information coming soon…
‘Planeta Azúcar’: ’25 gramos’ Sugar Regulation Campaign Conferences
26 June 2014, Madrid, Spain
Victoria Anderica attended the conference series ‘Planeta Azúcar’ to speak about the invisibility of the sugar industry lobby as part of the ’25 gramos’ campaing, in Madrid. More information on this event here.
European Experiences on Access to Information and reuse of information
25 June 2014, Warsaw, Poland
Andreas Pavlou was in Warsaw presenting ‘European Experiences on Access to Information and reuse of information’ in an event organised by Poland Cities on the Internet. He presented the different ways that information has been reused in Europe to protect human rights, increase innovation, and improve public services. More information on this event here.
Legal Leaks trainings: enhancing media accountability
2-16 June 2014, South East Europe
Helen Darbishire and Victoria Anderica led a series of five Legal Leaks Trainings in Prishtina (Kosovo), Tirana (Albania), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Podgorica (Montenegro) and Belgrade (Serbia). More information on these events here.
VI Technical Conferences on Local Administration Archives
22 May 2014, Málaga, Spain
Victoria Anderica attended the VI Jornadas técnicas de Archivos en la Administración Local (VI Edition of Local Administration Archives Technical Conferences), and will be speaking about ‘Transparency, Documents and Archives’, in Málaga, Spain. More information on this event here.
Debate: ‘Europa para las personas’ (‘Europe for the people’)
8 May 2014, Burgos, Spain
Fernando Remiro participated in the debate ‘Europa para las personas. ¿Para qué votamos en Europa?'(‘Europe for the people. Why do we vote in Europe?’), organised by the Asamblea Ciudadana de Burgos. More information on this event here.
Open Government Partnership Europe Regional Meeting
7 May 2014, Dublin, Ireland
Helen Darbishire and Victoria Anderica attended the Open Government Partnership Europe Regional Meeting, and spoke about OGP standards and indicators (on May 8) and access to information laws (May 7), in Dublin. More information on this event here.
VIII International Journalism Festival
30 April 2014, Perugia, Italy
Helen Darbishire attended the VIII Edition of the International Journalism Festival, and spoke about ‘FOIA for Italy: now’s the time’ (on Wednesday April 30), and ‘Lobbies and power: tools for transparency and accountability’ (Thursday May 1), in Perugia, Italy. More information on this event here.
Lobbying Transparency Conference in the European Parliament
10 April 2014, Brussels, Belgium
Helen Darbishire talked about EU transparency and access to documents in the ‘Lobbying, corruption and lack of transparency in the EU. The dark side of democracy?’ conference, organised by The Greens/EFA, in the European Parliament, in Brussels. More information on this event here. You can watch the full conference video here.
Discussing Spain’s Transparency Law with Spanish State Secretary José Luis Ayllón
2 April 2014, Madrid, Spain
Helen Darbishire and Victoria Anderica, from Access Info Europe, and representatives from Fundación Civio, met with State Secretary José Luis Ayllón, in La Moncloa, in Madrid. Read about this meeting here.
European Conference, “Towards the People’s Europe”
21 March 2014, Madrid, Spain
Pam Bartlett Quintanilla participated in the conference organised by the Green European Foundation (GEF) and the Fundación Equo, “Hacia una Europa de las Personas”, in Madrid. Find more information about this event here. You can watch the full conference video here.
Open Government Conferences
12 March 2014, Barcelona, Spain
Victoria Anderica participated in the series of conferences on open government organised by Fundación Telefónica in Barcelona. You can find more information about this event here.
Launching campaign of the “Citizens Network, X Party”
7 February 2014, Málaga, Spain
Victoria Anderica attended the Launching Campaign of the “Citizens Network” where she gave a talk about Access to Information as a Fundamental Right and the negative aspects of the new Spanish Transparency Law, organised by the X Party.
Advising the European Ombudsman on its Register of Documents
4 February 2014, Madrid, Spain
On 4 February 2014, Access Info’s EU Transparency campaigner, communications manager and interns took part in a conference call with the European Omudbman’s office to test the beta version of the European Ombudmsan’s new online register of documents. The four participants from the Ombudsman’s office were Ian Harper (Secretariat General), Peter Bonar (responsible for transparency issues), Mark Amir Tahmasseb, and Benjamin Paul Hagard.
After a 40 minute presentation on the functioning of the register, the Access Info team tested the website from a users’ perspective and then provided the European Ombudsman’s office with feedback on how best to ensure that the right of access to documents is fully respected.
Some of the main points covered were: the usability of the site, ease of navigation, language issues, clarity of presentation of the documents, and the need to upload detailed information about the right of access to EU documents information on timelines and the possibilities for appeal.
Access Info will publicise the launch of the new register of documents once it is ready to go live, and we will work to encourage other EU agencies to set up similar registers of documents in the absence of a common EU register.
Workshop – Transparency in Spain
30 January 2014, Ávila, Spain
Andreas Pavlou attended the workshop “Transparency as a Public Policy” where he gave a talk about the “Right of Access to Information“, organised by “Meetings for a Critical Thought Among Citizens“. Andreas rose awareness about the pros and cons of the new Spanish Transparency law and the importance of having the Right to Ask.
Meeting held by UN Special Rapporteur on the right of freedom of opinion and expression
20-21 January 2014, Madrid, Spain
Helen Darbishire attended and participated in the conference held by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of freedon of opinion and expression, in Madrid, Spain.
III Forum on Transparency and Good Governance
20-21 January 2014, Madrid, Spain
Victoria Anderica attended the III Forum on Transparency and Good Governance, organised by the Chile-Spain Foundation, on “The Transparency Law: Main challenges for its implementation” which it was held in the Spanish Senate.