Open Government

Earlier this month, the Spanish capital Madrid launched a portal where citizens can discuss issues with any municipal employee, including the mayor of the city. Within a few weeks, they should be able to submit proposals to the City Council and vote on them.

On June 1st, the Dutch 'Leer- en Expertisepunt Open Overheid' (Open Government Learning and Expertise Centre) will organise a learning session on Open Data for Dutch provinces. The meeting is aimed at people working in the provinces who want to know more about open data.

Italy has published its second OGP Action Plan, covering the period 2014-2016. The central themes in the plan are participation, transparency, technological innovation, integrity, and accountability. Several online portals, including the Italian open data platform, will be extended with new functionality.

The Italian web portal www.openbilanci.it (Open Budgets) showcases the value of open data. The site provides financial statements from all Italian municipalities for the last ten years, and information on their mayors. Visitors can freely download and re-use all the raw data. The portal itself provides additional functions, such as the dynamic generation of charts and maps, and the ability to make comparisons between municipalities. The latter allows you to compare taxes and investments in culture and public transport, for example.