Following the European Transparency Initiative launched in 2005, the European Commission proposed in March 2007 to set up a voluntary register of lobbyists active in Brussels. Lobbyists and lobbying associations signing up to the register are required to disclose their financial resources as well as the names of their clients. This register should be launched in spring 2008 together with a new code of conduct.
For Alter-EU and for EPHA, these are small steps in the right direction, but the initiative remains insufficient to provide meaningful transparency at EU level.
First, the register should be mandatory for all lobbyists. It is crucial that the public knows who is lobbying for whom and how much money is involved.
Second, the Commission does not address the issue of "revolving doors", which refers to the situation where European officials go and work as lobbyists in corporations after they finished there public service mandate. Nor does she address the problems of unbalanced representation in advisory bodies, such as the Pharmaceutical Forum.
See EPHA’s position on the ETI Green Paper.
And what about lobbying rules at the European Parliament?
The European Parliament is preparing a report on lobbying, which is expected to be finalised in a plenary vote in January 2008. Finnish MEP Alexander Stubb has been appointed rapporteur for the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee. If agreed, the report will be attached to the transparency initiative, and new rules covering lobbying in the European Parliament will be put in place. However, Stubb does not favour stricter rules on lobbying.
Under the current system, lobbyists receive a one-year pass to enter the European Parliament’s premises after signing a code of ethical behaviour, meaning they have to declare there interests when talking to MEPs. The Parliament currently has an on-line register of those lobbyists that have permanent access passes, but the information disclosed is very limited and in no way comparable to the Commission’s intention to secure visibility about who lobbies, on whose behalf and with what budget.
At a hearing held by the European Parliament’s Committee of Institutional Affairs on 8 October, Paul de Clerck advocated for stronger lobbying rules on behalf of Alter-EU (See attached).
For further information
Rules of procedures of the European Parliament
*UPDATED* Green Paper on a European Transparency Initiative
