Brussels to name advisers on ‘expert groups’

Hundreds of the 1,000 or more groups listed by the Commission include business representatives, though the scale is not fully known, according to a study published today by Alter-EU, a coalition of groups campaigning for transparency in EU affairs.

“The increasing reliance of the Commission on external expertise to draft European legislation offers immense opportunity for industry lobbyists to benefit from privileged access to decision-making in the EU,” Alter-EU says in the report, adding that lack of transparency allows them to “capture policy” by influencing new regulations to suit their ends.

Public information varies according to the expert group, with some publishing minutes and membership lists and others not. The report looked at groups advising on sensitive areas ranging from alternative fuels to food quality.

The Commission refused to publish a list of these advisers until 2005, although a recent University of Oslo study found that expert groups were “by far the mode of consultation most frequently used by the European Commission”.

Alter-EU researchers used freedom of information laws to ask for details of 44 sample groups but found that the information received often did not tally with that of an online register set up in 2005.

The Commission released documents related to only 29 of the sample, with names and other details given only for 18 of them.

That is despite a recent European court ruling that those attending meetings in a professional capacity could not use data-confidentiality rules to hide their identity.

A spokeswoman for Siim Kallas, the administration commissioner, said he had pledged to make public as much information as possible by the end of the year.

“The Commission considers that it has lived up to the commitment it had made to make transparency one of its strategic objectives during its mandate,” she said.

“This register is being further upgraded. The process of collecting and publishing the names of members of the different groups shall be completed by the summer.”

She said that groups dealing with issues such as terrorism or nuclear security would remain anonymous. The Commission was also revising appointment rules to improve transparency, she said.

Alter-EU said the most glaring example of corporate influence was the expert group on coal combustion, clean and efficient coal technologies and carbon dioxide capture.

This group has 10 members from power and mining companies and three academics, along with a Commission official and a representative of the International Energy Agency.

It is chaired by an executive of Alstom, the French engineering giant that makes units that can capture carbon emissions – a technology that many see as vital in combating climate change. Germany’s Siemens and power companies such as EDF of France and RWE of Italy are also represented.

However, the Commission said the group was of a technical nature, advising the research department rather than shaping policy.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008