‘We Have the Right to Know’: Campaign Launched for Disclosure of Ministers’ Official Travel Expenses

The expert group Programiraj za Hrvatsku and the non-partisan citizens’ association GONG have launched a campaign aimed at uncovering the official travel expenses of ministers in the last three terms of the Government, as well as encouraging the current and future Governments to proactively disclose this information.

– Although citizens have the right to know how money from the state budget is spent, the travel expenses of Croatian ministers are not known and are not proactively disclosed, warn the two organizations.

Involving Citizens in the Campaign

They therefore invite citizens to participate in the campaign by sending requests for access to information about the travel expenses of at least one minister via http://putni-troskovi.codeforcroatia.org to uncover these expenses in the last three terms of the Government, and to encourage the current and all future Governments to proactively disclose this information.

They also note that they are still waiting for complete and full information about the agenda and travel expenses of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović during her visit to the United States earlier this year.

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GONG and Programiraj za Hrvatsku remind that the travel expenses of European Commission commissioners were also not transparent until EU citizens collectively requested them, and thanks to the initiative of the organization Access Info and the requests of hundreds of citizens, this information was published this summer.

Among the examples of good practice that publish data on official travel, they cite those of Irish ministers, the British Government cabinet, and the entire Government of New Zealand, which publishes both expenses on official credit cards and even ‘scans’ of receipts. The Prime Minister of India also publishes his visit expenses, while in Georgia, the travel expenses of high officials are considered public information.

Project ‘We Have the Right to Know’

Programiraj za Hrvatsku and GONG launched the project ‘We Have the Right to Know’ in 2015 to enable citizens easier access to information from public authorities via the internet and to contribute to the transparency and accountability of public authorities to citizens.

Programiraj za Hrvatsku is an expert group of the Croatian Association for Open Systems and the Internet that brings together citizens, designers, developers, and young entrepreneurs to promote open technologies in the service of citizens and to increase the transparency of public administration to improve civil society.

GONG is a civil society organization focused on enhancing democratic political culture and institutions and encouraging active and responsible citizen participation in political processes.