PARTICIPATION IN THE FIFTH SESSION OF INITIATIVE 2020
From October 1st to 3rd, 2024, the fifth consecutive meeting of the countries participating in Initiative 2020 was held in Suto More (Montenegro), which was attended by a delegation from the Agency for the Protection of the Right to Free Access to Public Information.
The main themes of the meeting were “The affirmation of the right to free access to information in which the public interest prevails”, as well as “The influence of international standards and international practice on the decisions of independent institutions”.
In the expert debate on the critical issues and challenges from the application of the Law on Free Access to Public Information, with topics arising from the individual experience and work of the countries they come from, the representatives of Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and the host—Montenegro, shared their presentations.
Cvetan Stanoeski spoke on behalf of the Agency for the Protection of the Right to Free Access to Public Information, elaborating on the topic “Non-action on the decisions of the Agency”, and made a special reference to “the actuality of action on requests of a personal nature/interest”.
The members of Initiative 2020, at the fifth regular annual meeting, adopted conclusions, which primarily referred to the challenging topic — the silence of the authorities and the abuse of the right to access to information, as well as the confirmed judgments of the domestic administrative and supreme courts, the new standards in the field of the right to free access to public information, both in administrative procedures and in disputes, as well as in the area of proactive publication of information.
The conclusions specify that:
– Free access to information is the basis of democratic life, which affirms the openness of public administration, and in that spirit, this legal institute should continuously improve systematically as an instrument and mechanism for the democratization of society;
– The necessity of defining the institute’s abuse of the right to free access to information, and
– Taking administrative measures and actions, with the aim of greater proactivity when publishing public information.
The next meeting of Initiative 2020 will be held in Prizren (Kosovo).
