{"id":38759,"date":"2025-05-08T18:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T16:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/?p=38759"},"modified":"2025-05-08T18:19:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T16:19:29","slug":"civil-society-coalition-calls-on-european-ombudsman-to-defend-transparency-and-the-right-of-access-to-eu-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/2025-05-08\/civil-society-coalition-calls-on-european-ombudsman-to-defend-transparency-and-the-right-of-access-to-eu-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil Society Coalition Calls on European Ombudsman to Defend Transparency and the Right of Access to EU Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1144px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">08 May 2025 &#8211; <strong>Access Info Europe, alongside a coalition of transparency and accountability organisations, has written to newly elected European Ombudsman Ms. Anjinho urging action to address the \u201csystematic erosion of transparency standards and practices within the EU institutions.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a joint letter, the coalition congratulated Ms. Anjinho on her election and welcomed her leadership at a pivotal moment for the future of EU democracy. They called on her to use the powers of her office to ensure that transparency is \u201cnot merely a theoretical principle, but is implemented by the institutions in practice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The coalition &#8211; which includes ARTICLE 19, ClientEarth, Corporate Europe Observatory, European Environmental Bureau, LobbyControl, and Transparency International EU &#8211; raised concerns about recent developments, notably the December 2024 revision of the European Commission\u2019s Rules of Procedure, which significantly weakens transparency in access to documents and raises serious legal and democratic concerns. These rules have already prompted <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/2025-03-25\/joint-legal-challenge-filed-against-european-commissions-new-access-to-documents-rules\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">two separate legal challenges<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from members of the coalition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Referencing Regulation 1049\/2001 &#8211; the EU\u2019s access to documents law &#8211; the coalition stated that its flawed implementation has resulted in restrictive document management practices, the absence of real-time legislative transparency, and persistent failures to comply with legal timeframes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThese shortcomings are not abstract violations of legal procedure; they have real consequences \u2013 excluding citizens from EU decision-making processes and weakening democratic oversight,\u201d the letter stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The coalition urges the Ombudsman to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advocate for more robust enforcement of Regulation 1049\/2001 to reflect today\u2019s digital information landscape;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Push for greater institutional commitment to proactive transparency, ensuring that key EU decision-making processes are open to public scrutiny in real time;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hold EU institutions accountable when they fail to meet their transparency obligations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Members of the coalition will meet with the Ombudsman to explore ways to support her office\u2019s efforts and to collaborate on safeguarding the fundamental right of access to EU documents.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Transparency-Coalition-Letter-to-Ombudsman-April-2025.pdf\">joint letter here<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":38760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,125,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aieinthenews-2","category-eut","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38759"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38773,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38759\/revisions\/38773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.access-info.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}