Spain Results Report 2020-2024

Spain’s fourth action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... saw a high level of implementation, the institutionalization of civil society participation in the Open Government Forum, and the involvement of all autonomous communities. However, reforms to the legal framework for access to information, a key civil society priority, was not completed. Going forward, Spain could improve its public engagement strategies to become a global leader in open government.

Implementation

Spain’s fourth action plan was its first comprising a four-year implementation period.^[1]

Six of the nine national commitments were fully or substantially completed. The most successful commitments were facilitated by the transposition of EU Directives. For example, CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... 6 resulted in Spain adopting its first national whistleblower protection law, transposing EU Directive 2019/1937. Commitment 2 supported the transposition of two EU Directives on open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... and reuse of public sector information and on access to data in the business registry. This commitment improved the TransparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More Portal and access to data collected in the Spanish Business Registry.

Several commitments were not completed or were cancelled because the government did not pass the required legislation during the implementation period. This was the case for the reform of the Transparency Law (Commitment 1), the implementation of the “normative footprint” (Commitment 4), and the reform of the law on incompatibilities of public employees (Commitment 5). Most of the unfulfilled commitments were also priorities for civil society, particularly the reform of the Transparency Law. Some activities were (or are expected to be) fulfilled after the end of the implementation period with the approval of the draft Law on Transparency and Integrity of Lobbying Activities on 28 January 2025. This law will require lobbyists to register in a Central Register of Interest Groups (an activity of Commitment 4) and will require the inclusion of normative footprint reporting into policy-making processes (an activity of Commitment 5).^[2]

In June 2021, the government published an addendum with two new actions to the action plan, both related to the incorporation of good practices for the Open Government Observatory under Commitment 9.^[3] In February 2023, the government published a revised version of the action plan, reporting on the status of the commitments and announcing the cancellation of three activities.^[4]

The action plan also included 53 commitments covering all autonomous communities, autonomous cities, and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces.^[5] These commitments led to advancements in a wide range of policy areas, including open data, participatory budgeting, public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... in policy-making, and trainings for civil servants in open government.

Participation and Co-Creation

Two institutions oversee the OGP process in Spain: the Open Government Forum (Spain’s multi-stakeholder forum) and the Open Government Sectoral Commission (which coordinates across public administrations). Civil society members of the Open Government Forum praised the government’s effort put into developing this action plan, which took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. They highlighted the openness of government representatives and the Sub-Directorate General of Open Government to discuss the proposals obtained during the public consultation process, as well as the broad participation of organizations at the national and autonomic and local levels.^[6] The forum continued to meet regularly to monitor the action plan’s implementation, either in plenary sessions, in the standing committee, or through working groups. All information about the meetings is published on the Transparency Portal. The government will renew the forum after the adoption of the fifth action plan.

Implementation in Context

The four-year implementation period (29 October 2020 – 29 October 2024) coincided with numerous events that shifted the government’s political priorities, such as natural disasters, the general election in July 2023, and changes of government at the national level. The government and the autonomous communities successfully implemented most of the commitments. However, for much of the implementation period, the government had a parliamentary minority which required reaching agreements and negotiating reforms between parties. According to the government, this particularly affected implementation of the commitments that required passing legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r.... The only legislative reforms passed were connected to EU Directives (such as whistleblower protection), due to the political consensus among the parliamentary groups for their approval. Many autonomous communities also faced successive electionsImproving transparency in elections and maintaining the independence of electoral commissions is vital for promoting trust in the electoral system, preventing electoral fraud, and upholding the democr... More and changes of government during the implementation period, which hindered implementation of commitments that involved passing legislation.

The last year of the action plan (October 2023 – October 2024) coincided with Spain joining the OGP Steering Committee. In October 2024, Spain became the government co-chair of OGP. The Government of Spain will host the ninth OGP Global Summit in October 2025 in Vitoria-Gasteiz.^[7]