Madrid, 5 March 2013 – Last week AsktheEU.org observed the 400th access to documents request made on the website since the launch on 28th September 2011.
Since then, AsktheEU.org’s users have made access to documents requests to the EU institutions on a wide variety of topics and themes which reflect ongoing European debates or which have an impact on the lives of European citizens.
Brussels, 1 February 2013 – A majority of people across Europe want increased transparency of the European Union and are concerned about ethics and lobbying in policy-making, according to a new opinion poll.
The poll conducted by TNS opinion under the auspices of the EU Citizens project, and completed by over 6,000 people in Austria, Czech Republic, France, UK, Netherlands and Spain, reveals that there is a huge demand for greater transparency. 85% of respondents think that full information about Member States’ negotiations should be open to the public.
Brussels, 28 September 2012 – In the year running up to 28 September 2012, members of the European public presented a total of 214 requests for documents with European institutions and bodies using the AsktheEU.org request platform. As of 23 September, almost 65% of the 214 requests made using AsktheEU.org resulted in full (37%) or partial (28%) disclosure of documents.
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On the 1 year anniversary of www.AsktheEU.org, 28 September 2012 we will publish a report on the functioning of the AsktheEU.org platform including information about how the EU institutions handle access to documents requests.
In the meantime, the AsktheEU.org team is working on improving the site. We would like to hear your feedback, as a user, so that we can prioritise the improvements based on your needs.
20 June 2012– The Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU yesterday gave up on trying to reach an agreement between the European Commission, the Parliament and the Member States on reform of the rules that govern public access to EU documents.
With the European Parliament standing firmly in favour of greater transparency for citizens, and the European Commission pressing for amendments to the Regulation that would exclude entire classes of information or narrow the definition of a document, the agreement hinged on an agreement between the 27 Member States meeting in the Council.
It has been over six months since we launched AsktheEU.org in the European Parliament in Brussels.
Since then, there have been over 100 requests to the EU institutions and bodies made by individuals as well as on behalf of organisations. About 30% of these requests have been classified by AsktheEU.org users as partially or fully successful. EU institutions and bodies told 13 requesters they did not hold the information, and only 3 requests have been refused.
This week, representatives of AsktheEU.org and Access Info Europe attended the successful (and first ever) #AlaveteliCon, organised by MySociety in Oxford on 2nd and 3rd April 2012.
The event was attended by other Alaveteli installations from the UK, Europe and South America and included representatives from a variety of organisations from across the world who were interested in installing the software, learning more about it or bringing their experiences of requesting freedom of information in their country.
In recognition of the 9th International Right to Know Day, AsktheEU.org was formally launched in the European Parliament this morning at a seminar convened by the European Ombudsman.
The launch of the web portal was celebrated with the first official request sent in front of a diverse public which included of European Parliamentarians, government officials, EU officials, civil society, and journalists.
The request, sent by Access Info Europe’s Executive Director Helen Darbishire to DG Trade asking for information about the mandate for EU-India free trade negotiations. DG Trade responded with an acknowledgment during the event, enabling a live demonstration of the site’s potential.
Brussels/Madrid, Wednesday 28 September 2011 – on 28 September 2011, the 9th International Right to Know Day, pro-transparency human rights group Access Info Europe will be unveiling the AsktheEU.org web portal by which the public can ask for information from EU bodies.
AsktheEU.org is a designed to radically simplify the process by which the public puts requests to European Union bodies: an email is sent from the website to the relevant EU body. All requests sent via AsktheEU.org and the responses are instantly made public. Requesters will have the opportunity to “me too” a request so that more than one person receives the answer, easing the workload on EU officials.
