“EU transparency: Where are we now?”

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The International Right to Know Day was established in 2003 by access to information advocates from around the world. Given that there will be a new European Parliament and a new Commission in 2014, and given that his own mandate is coming to an end, the European Ombudsman is keen to examine how much progress…

What happens behind the closed doors of the European Union?

Citizens’ have a right to know what the decisions MEPs are and what decisions are made by the European Commission. How to handle corridors of the administration of the European Union, see the Access Info’s Guide to access EU documents. Guide to access EU documents contains detailed information about the fundamental right of access to…

Citizens caught in a trap of the transparency surrogate

Budget openness (transparency) provides a possibility for citizens to access  complete, relevant, accurate, timely and comprehensible information on budgets of state institutions, which rightfully belong to citizens to use – it has been pointed out during a thematic discussion “Transparency of the budgetary and public procurement process” at the conference “Right to Good Administration  in…

Good governance, the glue of democracy

Zagreb, 26.04.2013. - Konferencija GONG-a "Pravo na dobru upravu u hrvatskoj praksi". Na slici (L-D) ministar pravosuða Orsat Miljeniæ, ministar uprave Arsen Bauk, predsjednik Vijeæa GONG-a Berto Šalaj i zamjenica izvršnog direktora GONG-a Jelena Berkoviæ. foto FaH/ Lana SLIVAR DOMINIÆ/ lsd

Citizens have the right to good administration, working for the goal of maximising common good, and not particular interests of politicians alienated from citizens. The only meaningful solution for finding a way out of this situation is the cooperation of the entire society and good governance as the  glue without which there is no democracy…

Quality of governance in state government bodies

epa03644178 A businessman uses a tablet computer at a park in Tokyo, Japan, 29 March 2013. Japan's unemployment rate edged up by 0.1 percentage points to 4.3 per cent in February 2013, the government said 29 March 2013. The number of unemployed people dropped by 120,000 from a year earlier to 2.77 million, falling year-on-year for the 33rd consecutive month, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. EPA/KIYOSHI OTA

The latest public opinion surveys in Croatia reveal the decline of trust of Croatian citizens in intentions and capabilities of any political option to deal with numerous problems successfully. In parallel, citizens’ support for direct democracy movements has been on the rise, not simply as a correction but rather an alternative to parliamentary democracy. Therefore,…

Institutional and legal framework for good governance in Croatian agencies

Zagreb, 22.04.2013 - U Europsku uniju, zajednicu država s najveæim omjerom zaštiæene prirode na svijetu, prostorno malena Hrvatska unosi iznimno vrijednu, rijetku i raznoliku prirodu koja je po površini zaštiæenih podruèja ispod europskog prosjeka, a po površini ekološke mreže Natura 2000 postotno najveæa u EU. Na slici drvo na travnjaku u Lici. foto FaH/ Damir SENÈAR /ds

In the past two decades the agencies in Croatia have been established following a global agencification trend endorsed by international organisations and the EU through the concepts of new public management and the regulatory state. Croatian agencies were founded without a strategic approach or legal framework, failing to incorporate elements of good governance systematically, adopting…