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Chapter One: The dark knights at a secret meeting
It was the beginning of the year 2014 when the European Commission first announced the creation of an “EU Internet Forum.” But it would take almost two years and several meetings before its official launch on 3 December 2015.
The Forum’s mission: to “counter terrorist content and hate speech online.”
Madrid, 22 May 2015 – Following AlaveteliCon 2015 in Madrid on 19-20 May, Access Info Europe’s director Helen Darbishire, reflects on 3.5 years of running the AsktheEU.org website for making documents requests to the European Union.
In particular she notes the successes, challenges and lessons learned about the relationship with the EU Institutions and public officials.
Dear Users and Potential Users of AsktheEU.org
First of all, thanks to all our users and all those who have collaborated with AsktheEU.org in the first three years of our existence. AsktheEU.org has become and will continue to serve as an important platform for increasing the transparency of the EU institutions by permitting citizens to make access to documents requests to EU bodies and publishing the answer to those requests online.
Three New Transparency Campaigns Focus on the Demand for More Access to EU Documents
Madrid, 29 September 2014 – Access Info Europe has launched a new version of the request platform AsktheEU.org, which now includes special features to help civil society organisations campaign to get access to EU documents, in celebration of International Right to Know Day on 28 September.
The European Commission is impeding the public’s right to submit access to documents requests via the AsktheEU.org web portal by refusing to register requests which are not accompanied by a postal address.
AsktheEU.org, which is run by Access Info Europe, was launched in September 2011 with the aim of making the requesting process more transparent. It is set up to work via email, with requests and responses published online in real time. Hence it does not currently have the capacity to deliver postal addresses without making them public.
Madrid/Brussels, 19 May 2014 – The Council of the EU is failing to comply with EU transparency rules by not respecting time frames for responding, applying too many extensions to requests, and not informing all requesters of their right to appeal when information is denied, according to a report published today by Access Info Europe.
Brussels, Friday 27 September 2013 – The European Central Bank regularly invokes the need to protect monetary policy and the financial stability of the Union and its Member States when refusing access to information a report by Access Info presented in Brussels today has revealed.
Since the creation of the AsktheEU.org platform in September 2011, increasing numbers of citizens have been logging in and making requests to EU institutions. This has not gone unnoticed. The 2012 Council report on access to documents acknowledges that, “Since 2012, the number of initial requests for access sent to the General Secretariat of the Council via the AsktheEU.org platform has been continuously rising.”
Madrid, 9 May 2013 – To celebrate Europe Day, Access Info Europe launched a citizen-friendly Guide on Access to EU Documents and is calling on members of the public and civil society organisations to exercise their rights and file access to documents requests.
The EU has recognised a fundamental right of access to EU documents, but the EU’s freedom of information law – which goes by the catchy title of ‘Regulation 1049/2001’ – remains underused by the population at large. The new guide demystifies the process of asking for EU documents explaining step by step how to make a request.
Betterplace.org is Germany’s largest online fundraising website.
It has a running Trendreport which gathers digital innovations on the internet and elsewhere in order to spread new ideas to the civil society and social sector.
AsktheEU.org has been considered as one of the examples of digital innovation that has made it onto the Trendreport as one of their ‘Cases’. Please click to see more about Trendreport and Betterplace.org as well as check out the AsktheEU.org case!
