Freedom of information legislation

The Council today asked the Commission to submit a study on the Aarhus Convention. The aim of the Aarhus Convention is to guarantee access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. The EU and its member states are fully committed to the Convention and its objectives.

The coalition of non-governmental organizations "Let's protect nature in Bulgaria" organized a protest at 18.30 before the National Assembly, BNR announced.

Dorian Matlija, a lawyer from the Res Publica centre in Tirana, told BIRN on Tuesday that Albania's new bill on freedom of information, which parliament adopted on September 18, will speed up access to official documents and government data.

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BELGRADE - The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) has stated that it will back the set of media bills debated in the parliament on Wednesday if the amendments put forward by that association are accepted.

The UNS said in a release that the association submitted amendments to the bill on public information and media and bill on electronic media to parliamentary groups.

SOFIA - Serbia's free­dom of information law received the highest marks from two international NGOs which conducted an analysis on the subject in 95 countries, states an article by Christian Spahr, Director of the Sofia-based Media Program for South East Europe of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS).