Spain: Public Participation in budget-making non-existent,finds international survey Madrid, 20 October 2010 – Spain has scored 63 out of a possible 100 in the Open Budget Index, losing points for weak oversight by the Legislature and the Audit Institution as well as for complete lack of participation in the budgeting process, the pro-transparency organisation Access Info Europe revealed today.
20 October 2010, Madrid – Access Info Europe, along with other members of the Coalición Pro Acceso (the Coalition for an Access to Information law in Spain) will present the results of the 2010 Open Budget Index which has assessed the transparency of budgets in 94 countries and which for the first time this year, includes Spain.
The Open Cyprus Coalition celebrates Right to Know Day 2010 28 September 2010, Nicosia/Madrid: The Open Cyprus Coalition is marking Right to Know Day, 28th September 2010, by renewing its call for full recognition of the right of access to information in Cyprus. The right to know is a fundamental human right as recognised by the highest international courts, the European Human Rights Court among others. The legal instruments that grant internationally the right to know are the laws of access to information and their implementing regulations. Right to Know Day press Release
New RTI Legislation Rating Methodology Launched 29 September 2010: A new tool for evaluating and comparing national right to information frameworks was launched today by Access Info Europe (Madrid, Spain) and the Centre for Law and Democracy (Halifax, Canada) as part of activities to mark the week of International Right to Know Day (28 September). The Right to Information (RTI) Legislation Rating Methodology is a tool to assess the overall legal framework for the right to information, based on how well that framework gives effect to the right to access information held by public authorities. The seven key elements of
Madrid, 22 September 2010 – Access Info Europe today launched a public consultation on Spain’s draft access to information law following receipt of a leaked copy of the draft law. Responses will be forwarded to the government. Access Info along with the 40 other NGO members of the Coalicion Pro Acceso have been calling for greater transparency around the draft. A letter sent to the government on 20 August 2010 asking for a copy and calling for a public consultation has, to date, gone unanswered.
Freedom Not Fear Madrid, 11 September 2010 – Access Info Europe participated in the European Action “Freedom Not Fear” with a street action to raise people’s awareness of increased surveillance and data retention. The action will also inform the public that Spain is one of the most secretive countries in Europe with a state secrets law approved in 1968 by General Franco which has never been repealed and no access to information law.
Update: Tokyo Two given one year suspended sentence Tokyo, 6 September 2010 – Japan’s Aomori Court has found the Tokyo Two guilty of theft and trespass and has sentenced them to one year in prision, suspended for three years. Greenpeace has announced that it will appeal the judgement. Japan: Environmentalists denied information should be acquitted Madrid, 3 September 2010 – Access Info Europe today criticised the Japanese government for using censorship in response to access to information requests, and called for the acquittal of two environmental activists who exposed government corruption linked to the black market in whale meat.
To celebrate International Right to Know Day on 28 September, Access Info Europe and the Coalición Pro Acceso are holding a public seminar on the right of access to information at the Complutense University in Madrid. Government transparency is a burning issue in Spain, which is the last country in Europe with a population of more than one million not to have an access to information law. On 16tAugust this year, the daily newspaper El País reported leaked information that the draft “Law on Transparency and Citizen Access to Public Information” will soon be passed to the parliament. The urgent
Madrid, 25th August 2010 — Access Info today wrote to the Spanish government asking for information about the draft “Law on Transparency and Citizen Access to Public Information”. On Monday 16th of August the press carried news that the law would soon be approved by the Council of Ministers; nothing has been heard since about the progress of the draft law. Meeting agendas of the Council of Ministers are secret in Spain until after the meeting has taken place. Access Info provided the government with comparative examples of other countries in which Cabinet meeting agendas are made public and asked
Transparency Law begins Legislative Process Behind Closed Doors Madrid, 16 August 2010 – Spanish Daily El País today announced that this Friday (20 August 2010) the Spanish Council of Ministers will consider for approval the draft “Transparency and Access of Citizens to Information Law”, thereby initiating the legislative process with leaked information. Access Info Europe condemns the leaking of the draft law to the media rather than a formal public release of the text, and has renewed its call for full debate and structured public consultation around the draft law. “To date, the only information that we have about this