Palma/Madrid.—The launch of a new ‘transparency portal’ yesterday will allow Spaniards to access to never before seen data on all aspects of government and public life.
Published in the wake of multiple corruption scandals, Spain’s Transparency Portal (http://transparencia.gob.es) will provide access to a huge array of data including contracts, grants, functions of ministries, budgets, audits and taxes and the remuneration and allowances of officials.
Specific issues
The Transparency Portal website was created to allow public access to all this information and to also be a place where members of the public could request specific information on specific issues.
Yesterday’s launch will see the central government’s information published, but Spain’s regional and local authorities have a further 12 months to put their data online.
Until a few months ago, Spain was one of the only countries in Europe that did not have a law on transparency or accessing public information, Cyprus and Luxembourg being the only other European countries with no such law.
The law will serve to guarantee citizens the right to access information, to force the government to be transparent and to monitor public activity.
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