Madrid, 12 March 2013 — Spain’s Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo) has severely criticised the secrecy of the Madrid regional government (Community of Madrid), the regional government of Madrid, in regards to the macro project Eurovegas and demands total transparency on this topic. The Ombudsman has singled out this project as one of “exceptional public interest”, therefore the Community of Madrid needs to be transparent regarding how much they know about the future leisure centre, and must inform interested parties.Since the intention to build Eurovegas in Madrid came to light, the Plataform Eurovegas No (the Platform) has made 12 requests to

Madrid, 27 February 2013 – The picture says it all: a government embattled by corruption scandals is so reluctant to answer questions that it puts journalists in a separate room during a press conference. This happened on 2 February 2013 for a press conference given by Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy. The objective was to avoid being put on the spot by uncomfortable questions about the governing Popular Party’s finances. It’s sometimes hard to follow what is going on in Spain: The leading political party and even the royal household are embroiled in corruption scandals. In response, everyone is talking about

De aprobarse con su contenido actual, es papel mojado Madrid 19 de febrero de 2013 – La Coalición Pro Acceso, que reúne a 65 organizaciones, hace un llamamiento a realizar una mejora integral al proyecto de ley de transparencia ya que, de aprobarse como está, perpetuará la opacidad que rige la vida pública española. De esta manera, se exige que no se excluya del debate a una sociedad civil que lleva desde 2006 divulgando sus planteamientos de manera estructurada.

Madrid, 31 January 2013 — In the midst of a major scandal involving possible irregular payments to leading members of Spain’s governing party using money from major companies, a European opinion poll conducted just a few days ago reveals that 82% of Spaniards believe that lobbying from the business sector may lead to government policies which are not in the public interest. Also conducted in Austria, France, the Netherlands, the UK and the Czech Republic, the survey asked about the influence and regulation of lobbying in Europe. In response to this poll, 80% of Spaniards said that they believed that lobbyists

Madrid, 31 de enero 2013 — La organización Access Info Europe y la Fundación Ciudadana Civio, impulsoras del proyecto tuderechoasaber.es, enviaron una carta a Valentín Elizondo Nevares, Director General de Gobierno Abierto y Nuevas Tecnologías de Navarra, para expresar su preocupación por el retroceso que supone la Ley Floral de Transparencia y Gobierno Abierto recién adoptada.

Madrid, 11 February 2013- Three weeks ago, Access Info Europe and Tuderechoasaber.es platform jointly launched a petition on Change.org to demand that political parties be included in future Transparency Law which has already exceeded 160,000 signatures. Members of various political groups have recently stated to media that are in favor of including political parties in the future Transparency Law. Carlos Floriano, Deputy Secretary of Organization of PP, Elena Valenciano, Deputy Secretary General of the PSOE, Irene Lozano, national representative of Union Progress and Democracy (UPyD) and even the Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, declared to be agree, among

Madrid, 30 January 2013 — A massive public response to Access Info’s January fundraising campaign brought in a little over €10,000 in mostly modest donations from members of the public. A big “Thank You” from the Access Info Europe team!

Madrid, 11 January 2013 – Access Info today launched a campaign to raise €3000 for costs it has to pay to the Spanish government after the Supreme Court ruled that the pro-transparency NGO does not have the right to ask what the Spanish government is doing to fight corruption. Access Info has lost a last appeal against the costs imposed after a five-year legal battle to obtain a response to an information request asking what Spain is doing to implement the UN Convention against Corruption.

Madrid, 17 December 2012 – Friends of the Earth (Spain) and Access Info Europe today (17 December 2012) presented a request for information calling on the Spanish Government to reveal the location of field with genetically modified maize which it is keeping secret in violation of EU law. The request was submitted via the website tuderechasaber.es (“your right to know”) and delivered in person to the Ministry of Agriculture. Spain is the only EU country with large scale production of genetically modified crops – around 100,000 hectares [1] – while other countries such as France and Germany