Civil society demands a more transparent EU lobby register Madrid/Brussels, 23 July 2012 – Civil society organisations are fast making their opinions known on the EU’s one-year-old transparency register, calling for improvements to the information disclosed by interest groups so that citizens are able to identify who is lobbying the EU for what, and with what levels of success.
MEPs declarations of interests lack detail and rigor Brussels, 19 July 2012 – An analysis of the declarations of interest of the 754 sitting MEPs found several issues with regards to their declarations that prevent citizens from having a full picture about the outside activities and potential conflicts of interests of Members of the European Parliament. The report, researched by ALTER EU member Friends of the Earth Europe reveals that:
Madrid, 10 de julio de 2012 — El pasado 27 de junio se celebró en Bilbao un congreso para debatir ideas y buscar aportaciones sobre el Anteproyecto de Ley de Transparencia y Buen Gobierno del gobierno vasco. Entre los invitados al Congreso estaban políticos y expertos en transparencia, como Helen Darbishire, Directora Ejecutiva de Access Info Europe, que presentó los estándares de gobierno abierto: Open Government Standards. Esta iniciativa está centrada en lograr un acuerdo de mínimos sobre lo que significa gobierno abierto, para que todos, como ciudadanos, podamos pedirle a nuestro gobierno que así lo sea.
El pasado miércoles 27 de junio, la Coalición Pro Acceso recibió respuesta a la carta que envió el 1 de junio al secretario de Estado José Luis Ayllón, responsable de la ley de transparencia en el actual Gobierno. Esta carta solo responde a una de las seis preguntas que la Coalición Pro Acceso hacía al gobierno sobre la futura ley de transparencia. En su respuesta, el Secretario de Estado de Relaciones con las Cortes solo explica las razones por las que este Gobierno considera que el derecho de acceso a la información no es un derecho fundamental y por qué
Denmark drops reform of EU access to documents rules as disagreements prove insurmountable 20 June 2012 – The Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU yesterday gave up on trying to reach an agreement between the European Commission, the Parliament and the Member States on reform of the rules that govern public access to EU documents. With the European Parliament standing firmly in favour of greater transparency for citizens, and the European Commission pressing for amendments to the Regulation that would exclude entire classes of information or narrow the definition of a document, the agreement hinged on an agreement
British and German governments urged to act for more EU transparency Madrid/London/Berlin, 19 June 2012 – Today, Access Info Europe, with the support of 4 British and 6 German civil society organisations, called on the British and German Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Ministries of Justice to reconsider their goverment’s reportedly anti-transparency position on the reform of Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to EU documents. See letter to the British government here: See letter the German government here: This action is part of Access Info’s campaign to stregthen transparency within the European Union. The revision of Regulation 1049/2001 has been
18 June 2012- In its second evaluation of Spain’s draft access to information law, the OSCE has concluded that in spite of the changes the draft remains well below international standards. The report, released by the Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, analyses the changes made by the Spanish government in May and concludes that “the majority of the changes are ‘cosmetic’ and, in general, do nto contribute to improving the draft compared with the previous version.”
Last window of hope for EU transparency talks still open: Danish Presidency urged to broker agreement Brussels/Madrid, 16 June 2012 – With inside EU sources indicating that the Council and the European Parliament are still ready to make a deal on limited but essential reforms to EU access to documents rules, NGO Access Info Europe today called on the Danish Presidency to make an urgent last minute push to reach an agreement. See letter to Danish government here: Access Info Europe understands that the Council of the EU could be ready to agree with the European Parliament on a limited
Civil society calls on Commission to respect right of access to EU documents Brussels/Madrid, 14 June 2012 – Civil society organisations and international freedom of information experts have today called on the European Commission to publicly affirm that it respects the right of access to EU documents by taking a clear stand against the inappropriate remarks made last week by official Commission spokesperson, Antonio Gravili. On Friday 8 June Mr Gravili was quoted by the EUobserver.com, characterising the debate around the reform of the EU’s access to documents rules as “infantile” and saying that “some people need to grow up”.
Access Info Europe invite le gouvernement français à se prononcer en faveur de la transparence Madrid/Paris, 8 juin 2012 – Jeudi 7 juin 2012, Access Info Europe ainsi que 10 organisations issues de la société civile française ont adressé une lettre aux Ministères français de la Justice et des Affaires Étrangères et Européennes les invitant à reconsidérer la position de la France vis-à-vis de la réforme du règlement européen 1049/2001 concernant l’accès aux documents des institutions. Cette action s’inscrit dans le cadre de la campagne que nous menons pour un approfondissement de la transparence au sein de l’Union Européenne. La