Brussels has an estimated 15,000 lobbyists seeking to influence EU decision making on behalf of industry, consumer and other interest groups. Five years after the launch of the European Transparency Initiative, concerns remain about lack of transparency and the influence of the industry lobby on EU decision-making.
First perhaps, the accuracy of the “15,000” figure is uncertain, since it has remained unchanged for the last 15 years! This is perhaps the first argument for an effective register of the Brussels lobbying sector.
In the past, lobbying groups focused their efforts almost exclusively on the work of the European Commission. That has now changed as the European Parliament has developed teeth, and lobbying groups are now as active in and around the Parliament as they are in the Commission. Some 4,500 lobbyists now hold access badges for the European Parliament, the equivalent of six lobbyists for each MEP!
Five years on since launch of ETI
Five years on from the launch of the European Transparency Initiative (ETI), ALTER-EU remains concerned about the lack of progress on lobby transparency. The present lobbying register is wholly voluntary, and as a voluntary register its effectiveness depends on public pressure being placed on organisations that refuse to add their details to it.
The register has another serious shortcoming. It contains only the name of an organisation, not the individuals. Since PR companies have a high and regular turnover of staff, this makes it relatively easy for junior company members to gain access to EU meetings and events posing as members of the public or even (admittedly non-EU-accredited) journalists.
The European Parliament has talked about developing a PR register of its own. However various commentators have opined that the most effective approach would be to construct a combined register to cover access for all the EU institutions.
ALTER-EU – the way forward
ALTER-EU believes (27/04/2010) that the present European Commission voluntary register for lobbyists does not work. Development of the register has stalled since its launch, with less than 40% of firms active in Brussels actually registered. Registration has never been enforced, and the information that is in the register on lobbying expenses is incomplete and unreliable.
The group claims that the majority of representatives in the European Parliament support its demands for greater transparency, but that the Commission has allowed industry vested interests far too strong a say over the reforms planned. As a result, little real progress has been made in halting undue corporate influence over EU decision making.
ALTER-EU posits the way forward as the creation of a new, compulsory lobbyist register combined with the European Parliament’s access pass, which is a modern photo-ID electronic pass system. It estimates that this measure alone could increase the present lobbyist registration from the current 40% to around 60%.
In fact a new High Level Working Group (HLWG) from the Parliament was supposed to have started work on the problem at the beginning of 2010, but is only now undertaking its first meeting on 6th May 2010. This HLWG is a joint working group with representatives from each of the major Parliamentary political groups. According to MEP Isabelle Durant, Parliamentary Vice President (Green), the group’s objective is to achieve a combined register by the end of 2010. However she has reservations at present about how the register will be kept accurate and reliable.
Insist on a compulsory register
Olivier Hoedeman of ALTER-EU states that it is incumbent on the European institutions to develop a solution that works, noting that the UK Parliament after this year’s general election is likely to introduce something that is even stronger. At present, he says, the Commission’s strongest sanction for inappropriate conduct is to suspend an organisation from the register – no other penalty exists.
Hoedeman says that for this reason it is vital that journalists and the general public insist on a compulsory register for the Brussels lobby. And that they continue to insist on membership of this register, whether the present imperfect version or any improved register that comes into operation.
ALTER-EU believes that at the intellectual and evidential level the case for greater transparency has been well made – what is now needed is a concerted political push to make a functioning register of lobby interests a reality.
More information
• http://www.eulobbytours.org/ – eulobbytours, from Corporate Europe Observatory.
• http://www.alter-eu.org/ – ALTER-EU home site.
• New ALTER-EU book, called “Bursting the Brussels bubble”. Copies are available online at www.alter-eu.org/book/bursting-the-brussels-bubble/
© Philip Hunt, 2010