«I don’t want to be rich, I want to be happy» Madrid/Brussels, 24 April 2013 — Access Info Europe today called on the European Union to make the “European Year of Citizens” a reality by removing obstacles to participation in Brussels decision making, in particular by increasing levels of EU transparency. *A member of the Spanish public speaking in this video which captures the voices of European Citizens facing up to the current financial crisis Citizens’ Report (EN) Citizens’ Report (FR) Citizens’ Report (ES) Presenting “The Citizens’ Report: Participation, Ethics and Transparency – What citizens want from Brussels”, the culmination

Luxembourg, 21 February 2013 – At a public hearing before the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg on Thursday 21 February 2013, the Council of the European Union argued that secrecy about the positions of different Member States is necessary for its “effectiveness”. Specifically, the Council defended withholding from Access Info Europe in 2008 the names of Member States in a document which contained proposals to revise the EU’s access to documents rules in a way which would limit EU transparency.

Seminario organizado por el Defensor del pueblo Europeo en colaboración con el Mecanismo de Reclamaciones del Banco Europeo de Inversiones Desde el año 2003, los defensores del Derecho a la Información de todo el mundo celebran el día internacional del derecho a saber. Aproximadamente un tercio de las investigaciones realizadas por la oficina del Defensor del Pueblo Europeo están relacionadas con la falta de transparencia, por lo que el Defensor del pueblo Europeo, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, consciente del problema, ha mostrado su interés en señalar la importancia del Derecho a la Información y, este año, está colaborando con el Banco

AsktheEU.org | EU Transparency Results 2012 Brussels, 28 September 2012 – In the year running up to 28 September 2012, members of the European public presented a total of 214 requests for documents with European institutions and bodies using the AsktheEU.org request platform. As of 23 September, almost 65% of the 214 requests made using AsktheEU.org resulted in full (37%) or partial (28%) disclosure of documents. In a further 19% of instances (40 requests) the institution responded that it did not hold the information requested, either because the document did not exist or because it was not in that institutions’

Share your opinion on AsktheEU.org! AsktheEU.org is an interactive platform created by Access Info Europe, in collaboration with MySociety to help members of the public get information from the European Union. On the 1 year anniversary - 28 September 2012 we will publish the report on its functioning including information about how the EU institutions handle requests. Meanwhile AsktheEU team is working on improving the site. We would like to hear your feedback, as a user, so that we can prioritise the improvements based on your needs. Please, fill out our form and share your opinion about AsktheEU.org