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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)

Access Info invites open analysis of UK FCO documents Madrid, 4 August 2014 – Access Info Europe called for fellow freedom of information activists to help analyse and discover the information and data held in the tens of UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office documents on negotiations in Brussels to revise the European Union's transparency law, in a crowdsourcing initiative launched today. Download the documents here! These documents, obtained as a result of a four-year legal battle, are a unprecedented insight into the debate around the right of access to EU documents that has been going on since 2008, and could

Madrid, 16 July - Access Info Europe has joined over 50 other signatories, including networks and coalitions, calling upon the European Union to closely engage and eventually join the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initative. The letter sent earlier this month asks the EU to commit to uphold the same inclusion, transparency and accountability standards that they ask of others both inside and outside the Union. It will help bridge the gap between the EU and its citizens, and enhance the EU’s credibility in its international efforts to improve the quality of governance in third countries by empowering citizens through participation.