[open-government] On the eve of a disappointing FOI law, Spanish civic organizations meet the challenge

Fri Jun 14 18:45:56 UTC 2013

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/06/14/opengov-voices-on-the-eve-of-a-disappointing-foi-law-spanish-civic-organizations-meet-the-challenge/

OpenGov Voices: On the eve of a disappointing FOI law, Spanish civic
organizations meet the
challenge<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/06/14/opengov-voices-on-the-eve-of-a-disappointing-foi-law-spanish-civic-organizations-meet-the-challenge/>
by guest author David Cabo and guest author Jacobo Elosua and guest author
Victoria AndericaJune 14, 2013, 12:09 p.m.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the guest blogger and those providing
comments are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of the Sunlight
Foundation or any employee thereof. Sunlight Foundation is not responsible
for the accuracy of any of the information within the guest blog.

[image: David Cabo][image: Jacobo Elosua]

[image: Victoria Anderica]

*This guest post is co-authored by David Cabo, Victoria Anderica and Jacobo
Elosua. David and Jacobo co-foundedFundación Ciudadana
Civio<http://www.civio.es/>,
which promotes an engaged citizenry through transparency and data openness
in Spain. Together, they empower citizens with information technologies and
data journalism to demand for transparency and accountability from
government. David also created dondevanmisimpuestos.es, a website that
visualizes annual budgets from Spanish public administrations. Victoria
Anderica works with Access Info Europe -- a group that provides access to
legislation information under the Right to Information
Rating<http://www.rti-rating.org/> projects.
She is involved in the“Legal Leaks” <http://www.legalleaks.info/> -- a
project that trains journalists on how to use access to information laws.*

 Corruption is the second biggest concern for Spaniards, right after
unemployment, according to quarterly polls.

>From news about fraud accusations about the King of Spain’s son-in-law to
judicial investigations into the ruling People’s Party to a scandal
involving the Socialist Party and major trade unions over unemployment
benefits fraud, citizens are losing patience and much of the media’s
attention is focused on the country’s institutions.

[image: Civio Foundation
petition]<http://www.avaaz.org/es/spain_transparencia_vs_corrupcion/?cl=1699191603&v=13479>In
response to these scandals, the word “transparency” is suddenly heard in
every corner, in every demonstration, in every TV debate. Many more
Spaniards are now aware of what some civic organizations have been
denouncing for years: Spain is the only country in Europe with more than
one million inhabitants who do not have access to information legislation.

The Spanish Congress<http://www.congreso.es/public_oficiales/L10/CONG/BOCG/A/BOCG-10-A-19-1.PDF>
is
currently debating a draft
law<http://www.access-info.org/en/spain/380-spain-update> that
fails the test when subjected to most basic international standards. Access
to information is still not a fundamental right in line with the ruling of
international courts of human rights. Currently, the law only applies to
administrative information – not to the judicial and legislative branches
of the state. The definition of “administrative information” excludes
drafts, notes, internal reports or communications between administrative
bodies. And the monitoring and appeals body is not independent because it
is part of the Ministry of Public Administrations.

*What kind information is missing in Spain?*

Currently, in Spain it is impossible to:

   - Find out what corporations, institutions or individuals fund different
   political parties.
   - Find out simple metrics about public procurement, such as aggregate
   market shares of the different civil engineering groups operating under
   different governments.
   - Scrutinize lobbying activities and the pressure exerted by private
   interest groups in governmental legislation.
   - Monitor and evaluate accurately the results of specific laws or
   political reforms in critical areas such as healthcare, education or
   justice.

The Spanish public bodies keep this information locked away from its
citizens.

Nowadays, the Spanish electoral and representative systems do not favor
voter-candidate accountability. Information and open data scarcity have
facilitated large-scale corruption, public procurement is abstruse and
citizens are left in the dark about who gives contributions to political
parties and official’s agendas. A critical watchdog institution such as the
Spanish Court of Accounts or Tribunal de Cuentas <http://www.tcu.es/> lacks
resources to audit parties in due time, and their recommendations are
systematically ignored.

*So what is moving in Spain?*

Despite this, there is a short-to-medium-term approach which could prompt a
moderate degree of optimism. Civil society organizations that push for
transparency and data openness in Spain, such as Access Info
Europe<http://www.access-info.org/en>
and Civio Foundation <http://www.civio.es/>, have emerged and are now
having a measurable impact. Working together and combining skills – legal
expertise and advocacy on one hand, web development and data journalism on
the other – our current joint efforts include:

   - Managing Tuderechoasaber.es <http://www.tuderechoasaber.ces/> (‘your
   right to know’), a FOI portal built on top of mySociety’s Alaveteli. Unlike
   in other countries, we built the site before the transparency law was
   passed, with an educational goal in mind: we want to explain to citizens
   how to address information requests and encourage them to monitor the
   legislative process involving the law. Our 2012 monitoring
report<http://blog.tuderechoasaber.es/informe/> shows
   that Spanish institutions have ignored 54% of the requests sent through the
   platform so far.
   - Highlighting political and institutional issues that are often badly
   or superficially explained by media. Civio’s site El
Indultómetro<http://elindultometro.es/index.html> illustrates
   the opaque process of presidential pardons (600 pardons a year on average,
   including high-profile cases involving businessmen, bankers, politicians
   and policemen). AndEspaña en llamas <http://www.espanaenllamas.es/> (Spain
   on fire) allows users to search, analyze, and compare wildfires regarding
   their magnitude, location, causes, and consequences -- using previously
   unavailable data released through requests for information.
   - Tracking the money. After parsing the national budget (released in
   thousands of confusing HTML files) and visualizing it with ¿Dónde van
   mis impuestos? <http://www.dondevanmisimpuestos.es/>, Civio pushes for
   the release of regional budgets in open formats. So far two regions, Basque
   Country <http://aurrekontuak.irekia.euskadi.net/?locale=en> and
Aragon<http://presupuesto.aragon.es/>,
   have released both budget and execution data, but there’s still a long way
   to go.
   - In its work defending and promoting the right to know, Access Info
   Europe has carried out international campaigns requesting information about
   the use of force<http://www.access-info.org/en/access-for-rights/378-policing-protests>
by
   police or immigration detention
practices<http://www.access-info.org/en/access-for-rights/384-immigration-detention>,
   among others. Cases related to access to EU document have been
won<http://www.access-info.org/en/litigation/379-eu-transparency-on-trial>,
   but the litigation strategy in Spain is facing hostile opposition: last
   January, Access Info Europe was required to pay €3000 (approx $3,650) in
   legal fees after the Supreme Court
ruled<http://www.access-info.org/en/litigation/297-ministry-of-justice-corruption-case>
that
   the NGO does not have the right to ask what the government is doing to
   fight corruption.

[image: Civio Foundation]

 *Slow but steady achievements*

After 14 months of public debate around access to information,
polls<http://www.access-info.org/documents/Spain_FOTE_tables_25012013.pdf>
reveal
a huge social demand for greater transparency. Thanks to regular meetings
with government officials and political representatives, smaller parties
have adopted these 10
principles<http://www.access-info.org/en/spain/377-pro-acceso-petition>
of
the Coalición Pro Acceso (a coalition of 65 organizations calling for an
improvement to the transparency bill) and defended them in Congress.

In the field of lobbying regulation, Access Info Europe’s
campaigns<http://www.access-info.org/en/lobbying-transparency/265-civil-society-demands-a-more-transparent-eu-lobby-register->
have
gone from Madrid to Brussels, demanding improvements to the European
Union’s lobbying transparency register. The Civio Foundation, thanks
to an innovation
grant <http://innovation.globalintegrity.org/hiddenagenda/> from Global
Integrity, is setting up a database of power networks, revolving door and
nepotism cases in Spain. The ultimate goal is to push Congress to regulate
lobbies, and to include officials’ agendas into the future FOI law.

All these projects try to make the best out of the few official sources
available, while pushing for increased accountability in public
administrations and a strengthening of the future access to information
law, currently below international standards. It’s early to say whether our
efforts will be successful in bringing about much needed change, but the
continued support gathered from the growing international pro transparency
and open government data community will be key.

*Interested in writing a guest blog for Sunlight? Email us at
guestblog at sunlightfoundation.com*

-- 
Júlia Keserű
International Program Coordinator

1818 N Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
(1) 202-742-1520 *280

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