The code will increase transparency and introduce rules to avoid conflicts of interest. ALTER-EU regrets, however, the lack of measures to stop MEPs moving into lobbying jobs without a cooling-off period, and the weakening of proposed rules regarding gifts that would allow MEPs to accept paid trips to luxury destinations from interest groups.

Too few checks are being made on ex-Commission officials who move into jobs in the lobby industry, resulting in abuses of power, according to a new report published today (Thursday 24 November) by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU).

Transparency campaigners today welcomed the vote of the European Parliament constitutional affairs committee (AFCO) on the proposed Code of Conduct for MEPs [1], but warned that an important loophole on the definition of gifts risks undermining the core of the proposals.

The Plenary of the European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of freezing part of the budget for the European Commission's expert groups until new rules are introduced to provide safeguards against their capture by special interests and to improve transparency.