Empowering democracy: Evaluating open data initiatives in EU parliaments

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• the Robert Schuman Centre Seminar Series

Join Virpi Koykka, European Parliament Fellow, as she presents her recent research at the Robert Schuman Seminar Series

The value of data is widely acknowledged. Today’s technology allows any organisation, including parliaments, to record huge amounts of data in formats that can be processed and reused for different purposes. 

In democratic institutions, data can play an important role in obtaining transparency and implementing sophisticated working methods. Open data is public data made available for reuse in a machine-readable, non-proprietary format, without the user having to request access.

For parliaments, the publication of open data can be an additional way to demonstrate openness, increase the accountability of their work, and strengthen democracy by offering new possibilities for citizen participation. Nevertheless, given the technical nature of the concept and the IT skills required to make real use of it, there is a risk that the publication of open data fails to add value to parliamentary democracy.

The research examines the data that national parliaments in the European Union publish as open data and its impact. Furthermore, the study explores expectations and discusses the outcomes of parliamentary open data. The results are acquired through an analysis of the web portals/pages of national parliaments dedicated to the publication of open data. Additionally, a survey has been sent to all 39 national parliaments of EU Member States.