The Only Weapon is the
Access to Public Information Act

Gergana Jouleva

Dear readers,

We hereby present a collection of evidence of how nongovernmental organizations in Bulgaria seek information from the authorities. The stories are presented in different ways. Some of them are personal experience, expressed in the form of an interview, others are described by the attorneys of the information seekers after they have received refusals on their access to information requests and litigation has started. Third part of the stories are told by journalists, coordinators of AIP in the regional cities of the country. The stories are listed chronologically so that the reader can follow and see if and what have changed during the years. The stories have been published in the Access to Information Programme monthly e-newsletter. Collected in such a way, however, they turn into new texts since without intending it, the authors have made an account of what has been happening with the access to information for the past 10 years.

We have to say something about the characters of these access to information stories. Some of the NGOs do not exist anymore, others continue its work, third are part of international networks, but as you will find your by yourselves, in the words of one of the presented characters “a nongovernmental organization could not be effective if it was not comprised of motivated and devoted people who do the work.”

What motivates these people, united by different causes – against the corruption, for better government, rule of law and regulations, protection of animals, environmental protection, the protection of the water we drink, and others, and others? The motivated people to run for public causes are usually the initiators, the leaders, and the organizers of civil participation which is so to say the mystics of freedom.

How are such people molded? People for whom freedom is part of their perception of life, they are ready to reach the end but not like revolutionaries, but like people who want to make difference and bring changes with an only weapon – “the access to information law.”   

What unites them – distrust to the effectiveness and efficiency of the decision making by the public bodies, desire to take part in discussions and decision making, dissatisfaction with the way of government and views on how to improve things. It is probably all of these, but also their faith – that change depends on them and when they unite, good things could happen.
 
Let us take the dreams for free use of data bases that should be maintained by control public bodies in 2007. Now, in 2016, when these dreams have become legal reality, it is worth remembering the dreamers and initiators. There are people among them who have fulfilled their dreams before the legislative regulation of the free use of entire data bases.

Another thing that draws the attention is that the people who feel free and want to bring changes are not always accepted and liked by the others. In most cases, they are recognized as irritating people, focused maniacs, inadequate people with “unserious” motivation. The clash of ideas which has resulted in the ignoring of these organizations by the administration sometimes has grown into physical clash. One of the characters of the book has been literally beaten after an access to information request.

Are these stories inspiring optimism, is their collection showing tendencies that could encourage us that things are getting better? I feel inspired and optimistic. A lot of the information for which there were battles, including litigation, are now available in the Internet sites of the institutions. A lot of the stories told are not possible today. And in order to clarify the position from which I am writing these words, I would like to say that the team of the Access to Information Programme is an integral part of all these stories, because we were supporting the information seekers, we were assisting them to go all the way to the end. These stories are our story.

I will leave the conclusion to you after reading the stories of those fighting with windmills, the stubborn, the seeking truth, of the people uniting with others like them in favor of the life and health of future generations. And if you find something unclear, do not listen to anyone’s talk or incidental informers in the Internet, but file an access to information request. Do not believe to the “analysts” who claim that these people are being paid to rile the water of the public lake and to turn into a swamp. This is not true. Thanks to them, there is now a map of the rivers in Bulgaria.

I would like to quote the mayor of Sofia, who has recently recommended on one of the TVs to request for documents and not to believe in everything that is being said. I hope this is a promise for openness to the citizens of Sofia who also have their stories with the Sofia Municipality which have not been easy ones.

Request documents and you may feel like the character of these stories, because, as they say, the truth makes free.

January 2016   

A Foreword to the book "Civil Participation and Access to Information (15 Years of the APIA, 37 stories of NGOs)" published by AIP within the implementation of the project “Enhancing the Capacity of Nongovernmental Organizations to Seek Public Information” supported with a grant under the NGO Programme in Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2009 – 2014 (www.ngogrants.bg).

The whole responsibility for the content shall be taken by the Access to Information Programme Foundaiton and it cannot be assumed under any circumstances that the document reflects the official stance of the  Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Operator of the Programme for NGO support in Bulgaria.