13 Jun 2017

Spain’s Transparency Lottery

2018-11-13T10:03:19+01:00

[Article first published on eldiario.es (in Spanish)] Helen Darbishire, Executive Director Madrid, 13 June 2017 - If the person reading this article had to place a bet, which information would you say it’s easier to access: the salaries of advisers to the ministers or the documents that guide Spanish Cabinet discussions at its traditionally secretive weekly Friday meetings? What’s certain is that talking about transparency in Spain is like buying a lottery ticket: the lack of a government transparency policy makes obtaining information feel more playing roulette than exercising a fundamental right. In fact, Access Info managed to

Spain’s Transparency Lottery2018-11-13T10:03:19+01:00
19 May 2016

Spain’s extortionate Sunshine Tax is “a final solution for renewable energy”: What do the documents tell us?

2018-11-13T10:04:11+01:00

Madrid, 19 May 2016 - On the day that the news is full of the fact that Portugal this month had four straight days of zero emissions energy production using renewable sources (full story here), documents obtained by Access Info Europe using Spain’s Transparency Law reveal the tense political battles behind a controversial 2015 law that imposes prohibitive taxes on use of home-produced energy (such as from solar power). Spain – a country replete with sunshine, wind and waves – could be breaking the same records as Portugal, but instead the renewables sector has been undermined and citizens who generate

Spain’s extortionate Sunshine Tax is “a final solution for renewable energy”: What do the documents tell us?2018-11-13T10:04:11+01:00