SUMMARY

A citizen submitted a request for access to information addressed to the Ministry of Justice to obtain information on the report or reports prepared by the State Attorney, at the request of the Ministry of Finance or another department of the Government, on the possibility of updating the deliveries on account for the Autonomous Communities with extended General State Budgets in force and the report or reports on the possibility of updating the deliveries on account for the Autonomous Communities with a functioning Government and on the possibility of applying Article 155 in an Autonomous Community with the functioning Government.

The Ministry denied the information stating that the Generalitat de Catalunya has filed an administrative appeal with the National High Court against the Ministry of Finance’s decision of August 1, 2019, rejecting the request of the Secretariat of Public Finances of the Generalitat de Catalunya of February 22, 2019 for the updating and implementation of the deliveries on account provided for in the current model of financing of the Autonomous Communities. Appeal admitted to the proceedings before the 7th Section of the Administrative Litigation Chamber of the National High Court with No 1978/2019, by Decree of September 16, 2019, resulting in the application of the limit of article 14.1 f) of Law 19/2013, of December 9, on transparency, access to public information and good governance.

When a complaint was filed, the Council of Transparency and Good Government partially considered it, rejecting the part relating to the reports on the possibility of applying Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution by a Government in office, since they were not prepared by the State Attorney’s Office, and those reports on the implementation or application of certain measures with the Government in office, since the granting of the required access would imply the individualized review of the reports filed - which, on the other hand, are not limited by the applicant to a specific time period - in order to qualify them as referring to the measures that can be adopted by a Government in office, which presupposes an action.