Madrid, 4 November 2014 - ALTER-EU, of which Access Info Europe is a steering committee member, has welcomed EU Commission President Juncker's commitment to improve transparency around lobbying through a mandatory lobby register and more proactive publication of information, in a letter sent this week. The coalition wrote to seek assurance that the commitment to a mandatory register will take the form of a legislative proposal rather than an Inter-Institutional agreement, and that the scope of proactive transparency is widened to cover a broad range of Commission meetings between officials and that all such information is published on a regular

Madrid, 31 October 2014 – Increased disclosure, more proactive transparency of key documents and a more balanced influence of interests were the key issues raised in Access Info Europe’s submission to the public consultation opened by the European Ombudsman on the transparency of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. The talks, conducted between the EU and the US, will determine future rules that will govern the daily lives of citizens on both sides of the Atlantic, including the quality of food, consumer protection, and chemicals safety. Yet, citizens have effectively been shut out as stakeholders due to a

Madrid, 13 October 2014 – Access Info Europe is challenging the European Commission’s policy of demanding postal addresses as a precondition for registering requests for access to EU documents as part of a complaint being considered by the European Ombudsman. Access Info Europe argues that Commission’s policy, adopted on 1 April 2014, of refusing to register requests without postal address interferes unnecessarily and disproportionately with citizens' ability to exercise their right of access to documents and is in breach of Regulation 1049/2001. The issue of addresses was raised by the Commission as part of an exchange of views regarding the

Madrid, 9 October 2014 - Access Info Europe today welcomed the publication by the Council of the European Union of the negotiating directives for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), following a long battle by civil society and MEPs to obtain this key document, and the opening of an investigation by the European Ombudsman. Access Info noted that rather ironically, the newly declassified document states at Article 41 that "Nothing in this Agreement should affect EU or Member State laws regarding public access to official documents." Indeed, the directives require specific proactive transparency on any rules and measures which

Three New Transparency Campaigns Focus on the Demand for More Access to EU Documents Madrid, 29 September 2014 – Access Info Europe has launched a new version of the request platform AsktheEU.org, which now includes special features to help civil society organisations campaign to get access to EU documents, in celebration of International Right to Know Day on 28 September. The features include campaigns pages that civil society groups can use to highlight areas of lack of transparency and to advocate for access to particular EU documents related to issues they are working on.

Madrid, 28 September 2014 – On the occasion of International Right to Know Day, Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe, argues that the European Union should be taking a strong lead on transparency standards across the 28 country region of 500 million inhabitants. With 751 new members of the European Parliament getting settled into their offices in Brussels, and with the new European Commission – the ministers of the Union – about to be appointed, civil society is demanding a strong transparency agenda in which the EU takes the lead and sets standards to be followed by all

Madrid, 5 September 2014 – Proactive transparency would help address the problem of business-domination of European Commission expert groups Access Info Europe concluded this week in its submission to the EU Ombudsman public consultation on expert groups. The European Ombudsman’s consultation came in response to a series of concerns raised by civil society, including the Alliance for Lobby Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) of which Access Info Europe is a Steering Committee member, about the overrepresentation of business lobbyists in expert groups. In its submission, right to information experts Access Info highlighted the need for greater proactive transparency to permit

Madrid, 11 August 2014 – Access Info Europe highlighted the need for further access to information around the non-financial reporting of companies as part of a European Commission survey on corporate social responsibility. Civil society has emphasised the lack of regulation in this area, and stressed the need for more transparency and accountability regarding the impact of business actions on trade, the environment, development and human rights. The Commission is looking to receive feedback on the implementation of its most recent policy on corporate social responsibility, which is outlined in "A renewed EU strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility" (COM(2011)