Promoting Transparency and Accountability: A Regional Project for Europe

March 5 - 9, 2015

About Europe

In 2011, the European commission strived to increase the transparency in policy making. New guidelines were made to ensure full disclosure of the membership of interest groups in hopes to create a more balanced representation. Since implementing the new guidelines, a wider range of organizations joined, including small and medium sized businesses and individual citizens [1]. Also in 2011, parliament signed a new code of conduct and moved to define a "document" as not only text, but also audio and video recordings. Allowing this information to be accessed by the public has increased transparency and gained back trust that citizens had lost in the EU and its institutions [2].

About the Program

The IVLP is a professional exchange program that seeks to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other nations through carefully designed short-term visits to the U.S. for current and emerging foreign leaders. Over the last 70 years, the IVLP has developed into the premier professional exchange program in the U.S. and brings over 200 emerging leaders to Jacksonville every year.

[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/europe/newsid_9398000/9398487.stm

[2]http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-16204397