MEPs endorse stricter rules on EU pressure groups

"Lobbies are an essential part of the work done by MEPs," said the report’s author, the Finnish EPP-ED deputy Alexander Stubb.

"Policymaking would be very poor without their contribution. With this report we ensure a level playing field to lobbies and increase transparency."

Carlos Carnero, who led the negotiations on behalf of the Socialists, said: "For years we have been arguing for more transparency."

"That’s why we are in favour of measures which are aimed at increasing the responsibility of lobbyists, particularly in their relations with MEPs and the European parliament in general."

According to the report, lobbyists are defined as anyone "influencing the policy formulation and decision-making processes of the European institutions".

This means that public, private, profit and non-profit organisations could all fall within the remit of the new rules.

Think-tanks and lawyers, excluded from the definition in Stubb’s original report, have now been added to the list of possible lobbyists by MEPs.

According to Stubb’s estimate, there are about 15,000 lobbyists and 2500 lobby organisations in Brussels.

A count of permanent visitors’ badges suggests that there are approximately 5000 lobbyists operating in parliament alone.

"Anyone who comes into my office and tries to influence a piece of legislation is a lobbyist in my eyes," said Stubb, who is leaving parliament to take over as Finland's new foreign minister.

The report will not only force lobbyists to register on a common public list and disclose their budgets and costs, but will also commit them to a code of conduct – with sanctions in place if they breach it.

MEPs also proposed that rapporteurs should attach to their reports a list of lobbyists they consulted on the text - which they dubbed a "legislative footprint".

But Paul de Clerck of Friends of the Earth Europe, a member of the ALTER-EU group which backs greater transparency in the EU lobbying process, thinks that there are some doors still left open by the report.

According to de Clerck, parliament has not indicated when the new rules will come into effect, and urges MEPs to ensure they are in place before the 2009 elections.

And although he welcomes the rule on financial disclosure, he says that no details have been thrashed out on the provision.

"The plenary vote in May will be the moment of truth for the parliament. We hope that MEPs will close the remaining loopholes by calling for a clear timeline and inserting meaningful ranges and thresholds for financial disclosure," de Clerck said on Wednesday.

MEPs have suggested, though, that the three institutions set up a joint working group to prepare a proposal on the common register by the end of 2008, and to propose specific criteria for financial disclosure.

The report will be voted on in plenary in May.