Open Government

The Irish Social Democrats have made open government one of their core issues. The party states that it wants to reform the political system, so that it serves the people rather than the political establishment. Developing a culture centred around openness and transparency is the first step in this process.

Last summer, Ireland published the draft version of its OPG National Action Plan. The plan describes a variety of actions that the government will take over the next two years towards a number of Open Government objectives. As a member of the international Open Government Partnership (OPG), the country has committed itself to the OPG core principles of accountability, technology and innovation, citizen participation, and transparency.

This month, Hungary and the Netherlands published their first progress reports on the implementation of their respective Open Government Partnership (OGP) action plans. These drafts are open for comment, part of which will be worked into the final reports.

The Greek Ministry of the Interior and Administrative Reconstruction last week concluded a public consultation on the draft law 'Transparency, Meritocracy and Effectiveness of Public Administration'. The consultation ran from Wednesday 2 December to Thursday 10 December, or for a total of eight days, including the weekend.