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A unique opportunity for European governments to reaffirm and strengthen their commitment to transparency.

Feb.20.– Accessing quality information has never been so challenging, despite or maybe, because of our exposure to tremendous amount of information. The entry into force of the Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on Access to Official Documents (Tromsø Convention) on 1 December 2020, in a context of concerning deficit of transparency in the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, appears as an opportunity for governments to reinforce transparency culture and restore citizens trust and legitimacy in their institutions, in democracy.

The Nordic European States pioneered the development of the right of access to official documents, with the world’s first law on access to information adopted by Sweden in 1766. It then spread progressively to many other West European countries, before reaching its peak in the 1990s with the creation of legal tools in the new democracies of Eastern and Central Europe. Today, various legal instruments (constitutions, national laws and jurisprudence) across Europe recognize the right of access to official documents. At the international level as well, this right has been increasingly recognized.

 Bucharest, Feb.21.– The Minister of Justice, Stelian Ion, on Tuesday met with the French Ambassador to Romania, Laurence Auer, on which occasion they discussed the process of modifying the laws of justice, but also the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.

According to a press release of the Ministry of Justice sent to AGERPRES on the 9th of February, Stelian Ion had a bilateral meeting with Laurence Auer, France’s Ambassador to Romania, the two officials discussing “the excellent bilateral cooperation” and the priorities of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, which will have its debut on January 1, 2022.

“Threatening to bring an entire country to its knees to agree to Facebook’s terms is the ultimate admission of monopoly power”. 

Feb.19.– World politicians have lambasted Facebook’s move to restrict Australians from sharing news on its platform, with some saying the tech giant has behaved in an “anti-democratic” way and more like a “dictator.”

Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, David Cicilline (D-RI), wrote on Twitter that the move made it clear Facebook was not compatible with democracy.
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London, Feb.17.– Russia and China should not participate in or invest in any supply chain for the British defense sector, The Independent reported on Sunday, citing the House Defense Committee of the British Parliament.

"Investment in defense supply channels by all countries, including Russia and China, which are not on the approved list, should be banned," the newspaper quoted Committee Chairman Richard Drax as saying.