Getting Recovery Right: Open Governance for EU Recovery Spending

Join us on November 23!

Please register your participation here. 

On November 23, OGP will convene select representatives from EU institutions and member states, European and national civil society, media, think tanks, and academia to discuss why and how to embed open government values of transparency, accountability, and participation into the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and national spending plans. The discussion will refine clear and actionable ideas for European leaders to strengthen spending plans and policy frameworks toward a more sustainable and prosperous recovery.

This event is the first in a two-part series, organized in cooperation with the Open Spending EU Coalition, among other partners.

Agenda

10:00-11:15 CET Session One
EU Recovery and Resilience Facility – Opportunities and Challenges

Framing discussion to lay out opportunities and challenges of implementing the RRF for European politics, economy, and society with a focus on the three key priorities: Social, green and digital dimensions; as well as democracy and rule of law context. The session will discuss why openness is crucial to achieving the goals of the RRF.

Opening remarks

• Paul Maassen, Chief of Country Support, Open Government Partnership Support Unit

Speakers

• Maria Teresa Fabregas Fernandez, Director of Recovery and Resilience, Recovery and Resilience Task Force, Secretariat-General, European Commission
• Richard Youngs, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Europe
• Damian Boeselager, Member of European Parliament
• Marta Pardavi, Hungarian Helsinki Committee

Moderator

• Maria Koomen, Lead, Open Governance Network for Europe

***Break***

11:30-12:30 CET Session Two
How do we get recovery right?

Recommendations from the open government community will be presented, followed by policy discussion to identify where and how countries can go beyond the requirements of the RRF regulation to strengthen transparency, accountability, and participation of spending at the member state level in order for the facility to reach its intended goals. This roundtable will showcase some strong country-level examples.

Speakers

• Helen Darbishire, Executive Director, Access Info Europe; Member, Open Spending EU Coalition
• Laura Valli, Board Member, National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC), Government of Italy
• Berna Keskindemir, Legal Advisor, European Center for Not-for-Profit Law
• Kristine Zonberga, Director, Civic Alliance Latvia

Moderator

• Helen Turek, Regional Lead for Europe, Open Government Partnership Support Unit

***Lunch Break***

13:30-14:45 CET Session Three
What does ‘getting recovery right’ mean in practice?

Participants will break out into three groups to discuss the implementation of these ideas, exploring what works, what doesn’t work, and what’s needed to turn these ideas into practice. Break-out groups will cover three key themes:

• Open spending, led by Krzysztof Izdebski and Rachel Hanna, Open Spending EU Coalition
• How to publish RFF data, led by Jesse Renema and Karolis Granickas, Open Spending EU Coalition
• Citizen engagement and monitoring, led by Carl Dolan, Deputy Director of the Open Society European Policy Institute

***Break***

15:00-15:45 CET Session Four
Next steps to open up RRF spending

In this session, we’ll hear key take-aways from each of the break-out session leads and, from there, explore next steps – for European institutions, governments, and civil society alike – toward opening up RRF spending and getting recovery right. The session will also explore how members of the community can support each other and collaborate across borders.

Moderator

• Zuzana Wienk, Director, Bystriny, Slovakia

Resources

Ahead of the roundtable, OGP is publishing the working paper ‘Three ideas to open up EU Recovery and Resilience Facility spending’. The paper contains ideas, guidance, recommendations, and examples from across the OGP community to show how EU member states could open up spending of recovery funds. The paper is designed to provide ‘food for thought’ for roundtable participants. After the roundtable, OGP will refine the paper with input from the roundtable discussions before publishing for a wider audience. OGP welcomes any feedback on the paper or suggestions for further resources to include. Please email maria@ognfe.org with your suggestions.

In July 2020 OGP shared an initial set of recommendations for the EU’s Recovery Plan.