Transparency urges to reveal how much each member of the Government spends on escorts on their private trips

He denies that it is "reserved" information and that its disclosure could pose "serious risks to the security of the State"

MADRID, 24 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Transparency Council has urged the Ministry of the Interior to report the cost of escort services provided for private trips by ministers from January 2020 to the present, broken down by services provided and member of the Executive affected.

In addition, according to the resolution issued by the body in charge of ensuring compliance with the Transparency Law to which Europa Press has had access, the department headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska must send the person who requested this data the total number of requests for escorts processed in the same period, specifying those that were granted.

Likewise, you will have to send the interested citizen a copy of the existing regulations in relation to the possibility that members of the Government request and obtain escort services on their private trips.

The person who requested this data submitted his request for information last December, but the Interior did not reply within the stipulated period and complained to the Council for Transparency and Good Governance.

The Ministry of the Interior answered him shortly after but denied him access to that information alleging that it is "reserved" and that its "disclosure to unauthorized persons" can "generate serious risks or damage to the security and defense of the State, to the security of the persons object of protection and for the agents in charge of it".

Specifically, according to the ministry, it is not possible to grant access to information related to the security plans of institutions and public bodies, and to the protection plans of all those people subject to it, as well as to all those documents necessary for the planning , preparation or execution of the documents, agreements or conventions to which the classification of reserved has been attributed.

Transparency confirms that the agreement of the Council of Ministers of 1986 that regulates the classification of matters in accordance with the Law of Official Secrets grants "on a generic basis", the classification of reserved to the personnel, media and equipment templates of the units and to the security plans of public institutions and organizations as well as of the Units, Centers or Organizations of the Armed Forces and of the Production Centers of war material.

It also gives this qualification to the protection plans of all those persons subject to it, specifically those of the authorities and members of the Armed Forces. But, according to Transparency, this reserved character does not also cover in a generic way "all the protection plans of the Security Forces and Corps."

In his opinion, the documents necessary for the preparation or execution of the protection plans cannot be understood as 'secret or reserved', since he considers it "clear" that they are not "linked to the actions of the Armed Forces" or to the " security and defense of the state.

In addition, Transparency maintains that "it cannot be objectively appreciated that access to the documentation and data requested could put the safety of the persons subject to protection or that of the agents in charge of it at risk."

"Nor is it warned that public knowledge of the cost of escort services provided for private trips by ministers from January 2020 to the present, broken down by services provided and member of the affected Government, could endanger the safety of the people affected," he argues. Transparency that reminds us that certain data can always be omitted if it is considered pertinent in this sense.