Madrid, 30 May 2012 –  The serious lack of transparency around the proposed massive «Eurovegas» gambling, events and entertainment project was criticised today in a detailed report by the civil society platform “Eurovegas NO”, which accuses the Spanish government of violating national and European laws on access to information and public participation. The report “Eurovegas: a megaproject betting on secrecy” provides concrete examples of the opacity shrouding the tender process which impacts on urban planning as well as economic, social and fiscal policies. To date, no response has been received to any information request presented to the Madrid regional

Madrid 29 May 2012 — The Spanish Government has made minimal changes to its proposed access to information law has ignored the changes proposed by national experts and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The new text, published quietly on the Presidency website without informing members of the Coalición Pro Acceso or the public in general, appears to have ignored suggestions for improvement made during the public consultation two months ago, which received almost 3,700 contributions, although this cannot be stated with certainty given that the government has refused, to date, to make those comments public in

23 May 2012 – Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría announced on Friday 18 May 2012 that some changes have been made to the draft access to information law based on the suggestions made in the almost 3,700 comments submitted during the public consultation, carried out between 26 March and 10 April 2012. Precisely what these changes are, however, is not known because the new draft of the law, presented on 18 May to the Council of Ministers (Cabinet) has not yet been made public. Sources inside the Ministry of the Presidency (Cabinet Office) confirmed to Access Info

Madrid, 18 de mayo de 2012 – Al mismo tiempo que se celebraba la segunda reunión de la Comisión de Expertos para considerar posibles cambios y mejoras en la futura ley de Transparencia, Acceso a la Información Pública y Buen Gobierno, en Moncloa, el Gobierno ya tenía preparados los cambios que presentaría tan solo unas horas después, durante la reunión semanal del Consejo de Ministros. La redacción de la nueva versión del anteproyecto se hizo, por tanto, a espaldas de los expertos. Sin embargo, el gobierno dice que han tenido en cuenta los más de 3.600 mil comentarios recibidos de

En la cumbre de gobierno abierto de Brasilia, Access Info Europe pide al gobierno español que escuche a la sociedad y mejore el anteproyecto de ley de transparencia Madrid/Brasilia, 18 de abril de 2012 – Access Info Europe presentó ayer en la conferencia del Open Government Partnership las más de 86.000 firmas que se han recogido a través de Avaaz pidiendo al gobierno español que mejore el anteproyecto de ley de transparencia. Tras conversar con el representante del gobierno, el Secretario de Estado José Luis Ayllón, éste decidió declinar el ofrecimiento de Access Info Europe de hacerse una foto recogiendo

Access Info Europe today raised a series of concerns about the Spanish government’s Open Government Action Plan which will be presented in Brasilia next week at the Open Government Partnership summit, and has called for a full public consultation on the proposals. The Action Plan (see version in English on the OGP website here) was developed without input from civil society. Access Info Europe has issued an analysis of the Spanish text shared informally with four leading civil society organisations on 3 April 2012. The concerns raised by Access Info Europe include that: » The current draft of the access

Madrid, 9 April 2012 – Spanish citizens have until tomorrow, Tuesday 10 April, to make comments on the draft transparency law and to tell the government that they want a much stronger protection of the right of access to information. The draft law had numerous weaknesses, including a very limited definition of information, a limited scope of bodies to which it applies, and an ill-defined and non-independent oversight mechanism. Access Info Europe has launched a campaign with Avaaz calling for a stronger law, which has already been signed by over 60,000 people. Those inside and outside Spain are encouraged to