Positieve reacties op hervorming lobby-regels in Brussel en Straatsburg (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU anti-fraud commissioner Siim Kallas's i Transparency Initiative, which aims to enforce tighter regulations on Brussels lobbying practices, has made lobbyists sit up and take notice.

A spokesperson said the initiative has triggered many reactions.

Feedback from MEPs, lobby associations and non-governmental organisations have been "mostly positive", said the commissioner's spokeswoman Valérie Rampi.

"We are still in the phase when we welcome the reactions and analyse them", she stressed. "We will perhaps take more time than expected", she admitted, underlining that the Commissioner has "just launched the idea".

The Estonian Commissioner launched the Initiative in a landmark speech last month.

"Lobbying activities are estimated to produce 60 to 90 million euros in annual revenues. But transparency is lacking", he said then. "Lack of accountability results in a furious public opinion which feels deceived, and finally rejects the European project altogether", the Commissioner added.

The Initiative aims also to scrutinise who is founding who. "Some of the NGOs are receiving funds from the Commission", he said, pointing that these same NGOs lobby the Commission. "The Commission is paying lobbies, in order to be lobbied", he said.

Yet one critical reaction came from the Society of European Affairs Practitioners (SEAP), the association of professional lobbyists in Brussels.

"Contrary to what Kallas states in his speech, self-regulation of European Affairs practitioners is rigorous and effective", said the SEAP president Rogier Chorus, in an open letter published in the European Voice.

The organisation has "an effective sanction procedure" which includes "expulsion from the organisation", he stressed.

According to the Commissioner's speech, the European Transparency Initiative will be launched "in the course of spring" with the publication of a White Paper.

Praising Commissioner Kallas' initiative, Olivier Hoedeman of the Corporate Europe Observatory, a not-for-profit lobby watchdog, believes lobbying at the EU level is currently less transparent than in Washington.

"We consider this a very positive development that provides a chance for the EU to finally catch up with the US in terms of lobbying transparency", he told the EUobserver.

Mr Hoedeman believes full disclosure of think-tank funding, something that was not referred to in Mr Kallas speech, is necessary, as some influential think-tanks are "very, very well funded" by corporate sources.

Better disclosure of NGOs and Foundations' funding would also help MEPs and journalists to distinguish between credible NGOs and industry front-groups.

"In the EU we need a model that goes beyond that of the US and Canada", he stressed.

About 15,000 lobbyists currently operate in the capital of Europe, representing 2,600 special interest groups.