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29 Sep 2017

Decision-Making Transparency in Europe identified as top priority on International Right to Know Day

2018-11-13T10:03:07+01:00

Brussels, 29 September 2017 – Members of the European Parliament together with CSOs, academics, and journalists from across the EU have called for greater openness of decision making and full transparency of spending of public funds in the final declaration of an International Right to Know Day event held on 28 September 2017. The closing statement of the expert, high-level event, organised by the European Parliament’s cross-party Transparency and Anti-Corruption Intergroup (ITCO) along with Access Info Europe and Anticor Belgium, also called for full respect for the right of access to information, and urged all EU Member States to align

Decision-Making Transparency in Europe identified as top priority on International Right to Know Day2018-11-13T10:03:07+01:00
18 Mar 2017

EU-Turkey agreement, one year later: lack of information blockading accountability

2018-11-13T10:03:40+01:00

Madrid, 18 March 2017 – On the first anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal, Access Info called for greater transparency of the decision making process of the agreement and condemned the inadequate record keeping and misleading statements. One year after concluding the agreement, stranded asylum seekers, human rights and humanitarian organisations, and the general public, are still denied even the most basic information about this agreement, including who is really responsible for it. Confusion increased on 1 March 2017 when the European Court of Justice ruled that the statement (press release) was “regrettably ambiguous” because in fact the agreement is between

EU-Turkey agreement, one year later: lack of information blockading accountability2018-11-13T10:03:40+01:00
18 Mar 2017

One year later: what we (still don’t) know about the EU-Turkey agreement and accountability

2018-11-13T10:03:40+01:00

Madrid, 18 March 2017 - As I sat at the Access Info Europe offices on the 1st of March reading the latest Order of the General Court of the European Union, I could not help but shake my head every other minute in disbelief. In a case brought by an Afghan refugee threatened with expulsion from Greece against the European Council, the Court had just proclaimed that the EU-Turkey agreement is not a measure adopted by the European Council or any EU institution for that matter, but rather by the EU Member States. Luisa Izuzquiza,Communications Officer   If

One year later: what we (still don’t) know about the EU-Turkey agreement and accountability2018-11-13T10:03:40+01:00
13 Dec 2016

Leave no trace? How to combat off the record government

2018-11-13T10:03:57+01:00

[Article first published by Progressive Economy @ TASC] Dublin, 13 December 2016 - While historical archives are a rich part of our cultural heritage, there are many day-to-day reasons why we should care about how governments and public bodies currently make and keep records of their actions and decisions. At a very basic level, records and are vital for good administration and efficiency. Records – like minutes of meetings, briefing documents and memos – tell us what, where and when something was done and why a decision was made. Records also provide a ‘paper trail’ of evidence for accountability purposes,

Leave no trace? How to combat off the record government2018-11-13T10:03:57+01:00
2 Dec 2016

Access Info challenges European Commission secrecy around EU-Turkey refugee deal legal advice before the European Court of Justice

2018-11-13T10:03:57+01:00

Madrid, 2 December 2016 – Access Info Europe is taking the European Commission to the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union to obtain its legal analysis of this year’s controversial EU-Turkey deal on return of refugees to Turkey. The 18 March 2016 deal – officially “statement” – which is having a direct impact in the lives of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers fleeing war - was much-criticized by human rights groups for being out of line with international human rights and humanitarian law. Access Info Europe submitted two access to information requests asking for

Access Info challenges European Commission secrecy around EU-Turkey refugee deal legal advice before the European Court of Justice2018-11-13T10:03:57+01:00
24 Nov 2016

Europe: access to information in practice, not just on paper

2018-11-13T10:03:58+01:00

[Article first published by the Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso] Long established and widely recognized, the right to access to information is severely curtailed in many European countries due to deficient implementation of existing law In case you missed it, this year marks the 250th anniversary since the world’s first transparency law was adopted, in Sweden in 1766. At a quick glance, it seems we have a lot to celebrate in Europe – every country on the continent (bar Cyprus and Luxembourg which have draft laws) now has a transparency law that gives citizens the right of access to government-held information.

Europe: access to information in practice, not just on paper2018-11-13T10:03:58+01:00
28 Sep 2016

Statement by European RTI Community on the world’s First Official Access to Information Day!

2018-11-13T10:10:35+01:00

Madrid, 28 September 2016 - On the first officially-recognised International Right to Know Day [1], European civil society groups working on the right of access to information today raised concerns that a lack of government transparency is damaging democratic processes, thereby facilitating rising mistrust and demagogic populism in Europe. Recent monitoring by civil society organisations has demonstrated that while significant progress has been made - there are now 111 access to information laws globally and governments regularly publish key datasets on spending and services - there remain serious shortcomings with transparency of decision making which is shielding much government activity

Statement by European RTI Community on the world’s First Official Access to Information Day!2018-11-13T10:10:35+01:00
5 Sep 2016

Record-keeping and timely publication of information are essential for meaningful participation Access Info tells Council of Europe

2018-11-13T10:04:00+01:00

Madrid, 5 September 2016 – Access Info has submitted recommendations to the Council of Europe on how to improve its Draft guidelines for meaningful civil participation in political decision-making so as to ensure that records are kept and that there is timely publication of relevant documents. This recommendation comes after research across Europe by Access Info and partners revealed abysmal levels of record keeping. For example, of 21 decision-making processes in nine countries, for half of them (10) no minutes of meetings had been created. Similarly, the research found that for only four of 34 processes were documents submitted by

Record-keeping and timely publication of information are essential for meaningful participation Access Info tells Council of Europe2018-11-13T10:04:00+01:00
8 Jul 2016

Post it-sized minutes of European Council meetings unacceptable says Access Info Europe

2018-11-13T10:04:01+01:00

Madrid, 8 July 2016 – Access Info Europe has denounced the European Council’s recurrent lack of detail in its record-keeping, something highlighted by the shockingly minimalist minutes of the 17-18 March 2016 European Council meeting during which the so-called EU-Turkey “agreement” was concluded. The minutes of this significant meeting on the refugee crisis, which produced a controversial solution – many experts have raised doubts about its conformity with EU and international law – are so brief that they fit into a post it: “Post it-size accounts of high-level decision making about vital human rights issues are entirely unacceptable,” commented Helen

Post it-sized minutes of European Council meetings unacceptable says Access Info Europe2018-11-13T10:04:01+01:00
19 May 2016

Spain’s extortionate Sunshine Tax is “a final solution for renewable energy”: What do the documents tell us?

2018-11-13T10:04:11+01:00

Madrid, 19 May 2016 - On the day that the news is full of the fact that Portugal this month had four straight days of zero emissions energy production using renewable sources (full story here), documents obtained by Access Info Europe using Spain’s Transparency Law reveal the tense political battles behind a controversial 2015 law that imposes prohibitive taxes on use of home-produced energy (such as from solar power). Spain – a country replete with sunshine, wind and waves – could be breaking the same records as Portugal, but instead the renewables sector has been undermined and citizens who generate

Spain’s extortionate Sunshine Tax is “a final solution for renewable energy”: What do the documents tell us?2018-11-13T10:04:11+01:00
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