freedom of information legislation. Though four states have made their administration’s documents accessible – Brandenburg (1998), Berlin (1999), Schleswig-Holstein (2000) and North Rhine-Westphalia (2002) – action is needed at federal level, if only to send out a strong signal. Prospects looked promising after the change of government in 1998 when the ruling, two-party coalition documented its intent to introduce freedom of information legislation, but the project did not get off the ground. A working group of civil servants in the ministry of the interior began drafting a bill in 1999 but, after five years of resistance from the business sector and ministries – notably defence, economic affairs and foreign affairs, which all demanded farreaching exceptions – it finally gave up the effort in March 2004. At this crucial moment a coalition of five professional associations and NGOs –
Deutscher Journalisten-Verband, Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union in ver.di, Netzwerk Recherche, TI Germany and Humanistische Union – stepped in. Frustrated by inaction at the federal level and wishing to revive the public debate, the alliance began to draft a freedom of information bill in mid-2003. The finished document was handed to the president of the Bundestag in April 2004.8 The draft gained widespread publicity and, more important, lent momentum to an initiative by several parliamentarians who in parallel were drafting a bill, intended to be introduced on behalf of the ruling coalition. The proposed legislation would only cover federal agencies, which could speed up the procedure since the upper house of parliament would not need to vote in favour. Its disadvantage is that it would not affect information at the communal level, since the states enact their own legislation in this area. Carsten Kremer (TI Germany)
Further reading Hans von Arnim, ed., Korruption – Netzwerke in Politik, Ämtern und Wirtschaft (Corruption – Networks in Politics, Public Agencies and the Business Sector) (München: Knaur, 2003) Britta Bannenberg and Wolfgang Schaupensteiner, Korruption in Deutschland (Corruption in Germany) (München: Beck, 2004) Hans Leyendecker, Die Korruptionsfalle (The Corruption Trap) (Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2003) Michael Wiehen, OECD Convention: Overcoming Obstacles to Enforcement. Summary Report on Germany (October 2003), www.transparency.de/Stellungnahme_ Pruefbericht.113.0.html TI Germany: www.transparency.de Notes 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Financial Times (Britain), 11 March 2004. Associated Press (US), 18 March 2004. Der Spiegel (Germany), 15 March 2004. FAZ (Germany), 1 April 2004. Financial Times (Britain), 24 July 2004. See for example Der Spiegel (Germany), 2 February 2004. FAZ (Germany), 2 April 2004. www.transparency.de/uploads/media/DOK406_IFGNeufassung_040402.pdf
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