lobby register

Bruxelles, 23 Juin 2008 - Le nouveau registre volontaire dédié au lobbying dans l’UE lancé aujourd’hui par la Commission est médiocre et déséquilibré, selon l’Alliance pour une Réglementation de Transparence et d'Éthique en matière de Lobbying (ALTER-EU).

Brussels, 3 June 2008 – The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation in the EU (ALTER-EU) has today written to Commission President Barroso urging him “to intervene and ensure that the Commission’s new register for lobbyists will deliver transparency”. The appeal by the transparency coalition comes after the Commission’s announcement that the long-awaited voluntary register will not include meaningful financial information nor names of lobbyists.

The format of the EU executive's voluntary lobbyists register to be published on 23 June is 'not set in stone' and can be adapted in future, said Siim Kallas, the Commission vice president in charge of administration and anti-fraud, on 28 May.

Einem Kommissionssprecher zufolge würde das den Zugang für die Öffentlichkeit aber nicht erschweren: "Die Definition ändert nichts groß am bestehenden System. Im Prinzip ist alles der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich, Dokumente können von Fall zu Fall angefordert werden, auch wenn sie nicht registriert sind. ".

The European Commission is planning to push ahead with a voluntary register for lobbyists despite the European Parliament’s calls this week for a mandatory register for the main EU institutions.

Just weeks before the European Commission will launch its long-awaited register of lobbyists, the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee voted today in favour of a shared mandatory registration system for lobbyists at the Parliament, Council and Commission. ALTER-EU welcomes the Parliament's calls for full financial disclosure and for names of lobbyists to be included in the register.

An estimated 15,000-20,000 people can reasonably be described as Brussels lobbyists, if NGOs and other pressure groups (including my own) are taken into account. All are actively engaged in the EU decision-making process. Who are they? On whose behalf are they lobbying? At what price?
It is now three years since the European Commission embarked on its transparency initiative. With the imminent launch of a lobbying transparency register and a code of conduct, it is crunchtime for EU lobbying transparency. Or should be.
But the latest news on the register being developed by the Commission secretariat is far from reassuring. It may eventually not even contain lobbyists’ names, and only very general and limited information on how much money is spent trying to influence EU decisions.

BRUSSELS – The European Union's executive dismissed criticism from campaigners on Friday who said it was backtracking on promises on a plan to register lobbyists to increase transparency in decision making. The European Commission is finalising a voluntary register it wants all lobbyists – who often try to influence EU laws before they reach the statute book – to sign.

The register will be 'practically useless' unless it includes the names of individual lobbyists and 'meaningful' information on how much money they spend, lobbying transparency group ALTER-EU warned yesterday (13 February).

In light of Washington's perennial controversies over lobbying regulation and ethics, the Influence Blog is always interested in lobbying disclosure rules abroad. In the case of the European Union, it appears there isn't much in the way of transparency at all.