Interventions

The schedule of the First President of the Supreme Court is public information – a landmark ruling by the Voivodeship Administrative Court.

The Supreme Court refused to disclose the calendar of its First President, considering it an internal document. We challenged this response in court and won. The court confirmed that, in the part concerning official duties, the calendar constitutes public information, and that labeling it an “internal document” cannot be used as a pretext to limit transparency.

At the local level

In April, we organized an informational meeting on spatial planning and then prepared a mini-guide based on a lecture by an expert. Spatial planning rarely makes the headlines. For many people, it remains an abstract, technical issue handled by officials and urban planners. Yet, as a conversation with urban planner Bernadeta Janik shows, it is precisely spatial planning that largely determines what our immediate surroundings look like and how we live in them.

Daily life at Watchdog Poland

Transparency back on the road

We returned with another series of local meetings, where we talked about the right to information and transparency in practice. We travel across Poland to meet people engaged at the local level and support them in holding authorities accountable.

During these meetings, we discuss concrete issues—such as refusals to disclose information, lengthy proceedings, and the misuse of the concept of processed information. We also present tools and strategies that can help effectively exercise the right to information.

We see a strong need for these conversations and support. It is at the local level that transparency often faces the greatest barriers—but also where it can bring the most tangible change.