- The President of Congress, Meritxell Batet, the President of the Senate, Pilar Llop, and the President of the CGPJ and the Supreme Court, Carlos Lesmes
The Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Service, Miquel Iceta, stressed that the Fourth Open Government Plan, agreed with public administrations and civil society organizations, integrates ten commitments with 110 initiatives, focused on transparency, accountability, promotion of citizen participation, strengthening public integrity and training, education and communication in open government.
The minister has made several announcements: the regulation of development of the Transparency Law, promotion of citizen participation with a platform to channel proposals and expand consultation processes, reform the basic state regulations on incompatibilities of public administration personnel with a more complete system of conflict of interest prevention and regulation of interest groups or lobbies.
Iceta, during her speech at the opening of the Open Administration Week in Congress, in which the president of the Congress, Meritxell Batet, the president of the Senate, Pilar Llop, and the president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the Supreme Court, Carlos Lesmes, also spoke, said that “all these steps turn us into an active democracy committed to a demanding citizenship to create a more just, peaceful and inclusive society, which is objective 16 of the 2030 Agenda”.
The minister highlighted the Open Government’s Agreement on Inclusive Communication, “so that citizens more actively exercise their democratic rights to information and participation in public affairs.”
The Minister of Data of the Transparency Portal has also taken stock: 37,366 requests for information since its creation in 2014. And in 2020 it set record figures with an average of more than 950 monthly requests for access to public information, that is, more than 11,400 annually.
Ten years since Spain joined the Open Government Alliance
It is ten years since the creation in 2011 of the Open Government Alliance and the accession of Spain. The minister also recalled the ten years since the 15-M, when new political forces broke out and also a new way of understanding and making a more participatory policy.
“We have received international praise from the Open Government’s own Alliance for the remarkable effort involved in carrying out the IV Plan through telematic means during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Iceta.
The Fourth Open Government Plan approved on October 29 by the three public administrations and agreed with civil society organizations, “represents the expression of our strengths and the demonstration that we are united in the idea that our democracy must be tirelessly improved,” he stressed.
Open Administration Week
Open Administration Week is a globally driven initiative by the Open Government Partnership (Open Gov Week), and will be held from 17 to 21 May 2021. Its main objective is to bring public administrations closer to citizens, based on the principles of Open Government: transparency, accountability, citizen participation, public integrity and collaboration. The theme proposed for this year by the Alliance focuses on the reconstruction of administrations, institutions and societies, so that they are more transparent, responsible, participatory and inclusive.
In Spain, the Open Administration Week is coordinated and promoted by the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Function, through the General Directorate of Public Governance, with the collaboration of the Open Government Forum.
Open Administration Week resumes, after two years suspended. Today’s event is just the first gesture to consolidate it annually, it is the spearhead for next year’s edition, in which it is planned to open to the public the buildings of the General Administration of the State.
This year, the inauguration of Open Administration Week takes place in the Congress of Deputies, the house where all citizens are represented.
This week, with the restrictions on citizenship due to covid-19, different events will be held in the Open Administration Week by the different public administrations.
The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Function participates in various events, such as the Observatory of Good Local Government and Transparency, together with the FEMP, tomorrow Tuesday; the Conference on the Fourth Open Government Plan in Government Delegations and Subdelegations, on Wednesday 19; and Alliances between Open Government and Third Sector for Inclusive Education, on Thursday 20.