Government to increase accountability with a new Transparency Portal and the reform of the Public Procurement Platform

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, announced both initiatives in the framework of the Open Government Partnership Global Summit, which is being held today in Vitoria.

Europa Congress Palace, Vitoria-Gasteiz

Group photo of the opening ceremony of the IX Open Government Partnership Global Summit (Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa)

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has opened the ninth Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit in Vitoria, an international meeting where political and civil society representatives from all over the world debate and share experiences on transparency, accountability, citizen participation and public integrity. The summit, which will be held over five days, is the final event of Spain's co-chairmanship of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) over the past year.

During his speech, the president announced that the V Open Government Plan, approved on Monday at the Open Government Forum (which brings together the three levels of government and civil society on an equal footing), includes two measures of special scope that give continuity to the State Plan to Combat Corruption: the forthcoming launch of the new Government of Spain Transparency Portal, and the reform of the Public Sector Procurement Platform.

With regard to the new portal, the president stressed that it will be clearer and simpler than the current one, so that any citizen can easily consult, among other things, the agendas of senior officials, official trips and the annual accounts of public entities. On the reform of the Platform, Pedro Sánchez stressed that it will fully incorporate artificial intelligence, automation and advanced data analysis, which will enable mass audits, detect irregular patterns indicating potential fraud and evolve towards a real structural oversight model. "It is a profound and essential change. Because in public procurement, as in any democracy, the best guarantee is vigilance. And the best vigilance is one that is open, intelligent and shared," the president stressed.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, along with Lehendakari Imanol Pradales, at the opening of the Open Government Partnership Global Summit| Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

Open Government Summit

The president assured delegates gathered at the Open Government Partnership Global Summit that "the promotion of accountable, participatory and transparent governance has never been more important than in the times we live in". "Open government - that accountable, participatory and transparent government - is our best tool for defending democracy, and this reflection is especially necessary today, when our democracies are under attack. Not only from the outside, but also from the inside," he stressed.

Pedro Sánchez highlighted that Spain has made significant progress in recent years in terms of transparency, accountability and institutional openness, as evidenced by the fact that it is among the five leading countries in Europe in terms of open data and that it has advanced almost eight points in the Open Data Index in the last seven years. In any case, he added that "now is the time to go further, to redouble our efforts in this direction", with initiatives such as those included in the V Open Government Plan or the preliminary draft of the Open Administration Law, approved this Tuesday by the Council of Ministers: "That is our commitment: to keep moving forward. No backtracking, no detours, no excuses; to keep moving towards a democracy that is not confined to offices, but is open to scrutiny, participation and dialogue", he concluded.

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• Government of Spain
• Digital Transformation