Freedom of Information in Balkans Still ‘On Paper Only’, Panel Hears

Freedom of Information, FOI, Laws in the Western Balkans are over a decade old. Even though almost all countries monitored by BIRN have laws that are considered well-written, their value is often only on paper, speakers from the region told BIRN's panel discussion, "Freedom of Information in the Balkans: Calls Not Answered".

Planned legal changes to FOI laws seem designed to make it impossible for journalists to hold the authorities to account. When implementing FOI legislation, all Western Balkan countries have fallen significantly behind, BIRN's annual freedom of information report officially launched on Wednesday said.

When properly implementing the laws and granting access to public records, especially to journalists, public institutions prefer to remain silent or answer partially - and not always grant full access to the requested information.

Last year, BIRN journalists submitted 376 FOI requests. Only 134 were fully answered; more than half of the requests were not answered at all (what is known as "administrative silence"), reflecting public institutions' lack of transparency and proactivity. Lack of political will to fully implement FOI laws is a major drive behind current trends.

Sasa Dragojlo, a BIRN journalist from Serbia, told the panel discussion that it is difficult to get information from Serbian institutions. "It's like a big groundhog day every year when we discuss the state of Freedom of Information. Even when institutions answer our FOI requests, we don't always get real information," Dragojlo said.

The situation is better in Kosovo, where many documents are public. "We see some positive trends, and the political also changed a bit for the better," Gentiana Ahmeti, a BIRN Kosovo journalist, told the panel.

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