Conference “My Data, Your Data, Our data”
Helen Darbishire2018-11-13T09:41:10+01:00Date: 14/02/2018 Place: MediaLab Prado, Madrid
Greater transparency of Council legislative process, fundamental for representative democracy, says European Ombudsman
Helen Darbishire2018-11-13T10:03:04+01:00Madrid, 13 February 2018 – Access Info today welcomed the European Ombudsman recommendation that the Council of the European Union increase transparency of its legislative process in order to guarantee citizens’ right to hold their elected representatives to account and to participate in the democratic life of the EU. Two main findings of the Ombudsman’s inquiry into transparency of the Council, to which Access Info submitted a series of proposals in December 2017, are that the Council’s systematic failure to record the names of Member States along with their positions on legislative matters constitutes maladministration, and that there is over-classification
Secrecy over international relations trumps transparency of EU-Turkey deal
Helen Darbishire2018-11-13T10:03:05+01:00Madrid, 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, documents that the court process revealed included late night emails between high level public officials discussing legal and political aspects of the controversial deal. The judgments shed further light on the scope and application by the EU Commission of the
The documents in dispute: The European Commission’s legal advice on the EU-Turkey deal
Helen Darbishire2018-11-13T10:03:05+01:00From 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 hours in the night – which were exchanged between the different actors involved in the making of the deal, accompanied with telephone conversations. Access to that information was challenged by Access Info Europe in two cases before the General Court
European Commission formalises commitment to public travel expenses
Helen Darbishire2018-11-13T10:03:05+01:00Madrid, 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 new Code of Conduct comes exactly one year since, on 27 January 2017, Access Info launched a public campaign calling for publication of the Commissioners’ travel expenses. The campaign attracted media coverage, over both the lack of transparency and –
Más de 50 iniciativas se inscriben en el Registro de Lobbies del Ayuntamiento en su primer mes de vida
Helen Darbishire2018-11-13T09:41:10+01:00La Vanguardia | 02/02/2018 Spanish - Más de 50 iniciativas se han inscrito en sólo un mes, el primero de vida, en el Registro de Lobbies del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, una herramienta que aprende de experiencias como la catalana, la pionera, con nueve lobbies inscritos en su primer año en funcionamiento. Read more...
Defensa lleva a juicio a Transparencia para ocultar documentos ya publicados en 2012
Helen Darbishire2018-11-13T09:41:10+01:00El Confidencial | 19/01/2018 Spanish - La desclasificación de 10.000 documentos secretos de la Guerra Civil y la dictadura franquista planteada por la socialista Carme Chacón lleva seis años aparcada en los cajones del Ministerio de Defensa, y así permanecerá a corto plazo. Read more...
Leave no trace: the right to information and the duty to document
Helen Darbishire2018-11-13T10:03:05+01:00This report, Leave No Trace, contains the first comprehensive research into the laws, guidelines, and practices on record keeping across a range of 12 European jurisdictions and the European Commission. It reveals an extremely weak legal infrastructure and hugely variable practice on record keeping, which is undermining the public’s right of access to information: it is impossible to obtain documents that do not exist. The report contains a comparative analysis of the of laws, guidelines, and practices as they relate to the creation and maintenance of information needed for participation and accountability. The direct consequence of the lack of clear-cut
Legal Analysis: Access to Decision-Making Information in Europe
Helen Darbishire2018-11-13T10:03:05+01:00This Legal Analysis, based on a study of the access to information laws in eleven (11) countries and that of the European Union, evaluates the extent to which these laws provide transparency of the documents needed to follow and participate in decision making by public bodies. A valuable resource for academics and activists alike, it has sections on the strength and scope of Europe’s access to information laws, on requirements to create records, and on proactive publication obligations as they relate to documents needed to track decision making. With a focus on key classes of information such as minutes of
Eurodietas a debate: riesgo de que 40 millones de euros anuales sigan sin control
Helen Darbishire2018-11-13T09:41:11+01:00El Confidencial | 10/01/2018 Spanish - Los gastos en los que incurren los 751 miembros del Parlamento Europeo serán motivo de debate la semana que viene en las sesiones que se celebrarán en su sede de Estrasburgo. De nuevo, los eurodiputados discutirán sobre la conveniencia o no de rendir cuentas sobre la llamada “dieta para gastos generales” (GEA, por sus siglas en inglés) que les reporta al mes 4.342 euros para mantener oficinas en sus países de origen. Con esa suma pueden alquilar locales, comprar equipos informáticos o pagar facturas de luz y teléfono. Read more...