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  1. Jan 2022
    1. Because the pandemic is a long-term crisis likely to last a significant period of time, many commentators have raised concerns that governments will permanently become less transparent or accountable

      After the acute phase of the Covid-19 crisis, when routine procedures and rules are restored, the previous exceptional provisions can leave long-lasting effects, especially regarding transparency and accountability. In Spain, the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS) held dozens of extraordinary meetings during 2020 and 2021, when regional governments and the Ministry of Health discussed and adopted important health measures to respond to Covid-19. However, the minutes' meetings had not been published. When the government was first questioned about the minutes, the immediate response was that the meetings were summoned as extraordinary, which exempt the MoH from publishing its records. After criticism, in December 2021, the MoH put 116 minutes drafts for voting in the CISNS, which is now leading to more disagreement between central and regional government, as the regions governed by the opposition party are claiming they were not submitted and approved as required by law. Hence, people who are now in charge of approving these minutes were not members of the central and regional governments at that time. They also claim the minutes are incomplete as they don't report regional government's suggestions, only the agreed measures. The controversy over the minute's transparency challenges accountability. When these minutes are finally published, who are the citizens going to believe? Will they believe in what is written by the MoH or in those who claim the minutes are not complete? One can say some level of controversy would probably happen anyway, despite the previous emergency measures. Still, the time gap between the meetings and its publicity increased the chances of revisionism (from both sides), as science and experience evolved, and now we know which measures are actually successful, and which are not.