Commissie Constitutionele Zaken wil transparantere lobby (en)

A mandatory public register for lobbyists, common to the Council, Commission and Parliament and providing for "full financial disclosure", was proposed by the Constitutional Affairs committee i on Tuesday. Lobbyists would also have to comply with a code of conduct and face sanctions if they infringed it.

The report, by Alexander Stubb (EPP-ED i, FI), calls on the Commission and Council to set up a joint working group without delay to prepare a common register of all interest representatives who work regularly with the EU institutions.

Committee chair Jo Leinen (PES i, DE), said: "This report represents a decisive step for a new culture of transparency in Brussels", adding that "In the future, strict rules will apply to lobbying".

Mandatory common register

The committee voted in favour of a mandatory public register of lobbyists. MEPs also backed a "one-stop-shop" proposal, whereby lobbyists would need to register only once to have access to Parliament, the Commission and the Council.

To this end, MEPs suggested that the three institutions set up a joint working group without delay, to prepare a proposal on the common register by the end of 2008.

"Full financial disclosure" and sanctions foreseen

According to the approved text, lobbyists will have to abide by a code of conduct. A mechanism will be provided for expelling those who infringe the rules. MEPs also called for lobbyists' conduct to be closely monitored, sanctions in the event of misbehaviour and sufficient human and financial resources to verify the information included in the register.

Moreover, MEPs suggested that the mandatory register should include "full financial disclosure" by lobbyists. Professional consultancies and law firms in particular would have to disclose the relative weight of their major clients and the costs associated with lobbying. NGOs and think tanks would be required to state their overall budgets and main sources of funding.

The inter-institutional working group is also expected to propose specific criteria for financial disclosure.

Who is a lobbyist?

MEPs acknowledged that lobbyists can provide useful expertise, but considered it essential for them to be able to identify the organisations represented by lobby groups.

MEPs defined a lobbyist as anyone "influencing the policy formulation and decision-making processes of the European institutions". Both public and private interest representatives and profit and non-profit organisations, when regularly influencing the institutions, may therefore be considered lobbyists. The approved report also lists NGOs, think tanks, lawyers (when they are not dealing with case-law), trade unions and employers' associations.

The "legislative footprint"

The committee also proposed that rapporteurs be permitted to attach to their reports an indicative list of lobbyists who were consulted and had a "significant input" during the preparation of the text.

MEPs suggested that this "legislative footprint", as the rapporteur described it, should also be used by the Commission, for its legislative initiatives.

The European Parliament has had a voluntary register of lobbyists and a code of lobbying conduct in place for the past ten years. The rapporteur estimated that there are about 15,000 lobbyists, and 2,500 lobby organisations, in Brussels. A count of permanent visitors' badges and "express" badges, suggests that there are approximately 5,000 lobbyists operating in the EP.

The Constitutional Affairs Committee approved the Stubb report with 18 votes in favour, 1 against and 3 abstentions.

31/03/2008

Committee on Constitutional Affairs

In the Chair : Jo Leinen (PES, DE)

Procedure: Own Initiative

Plenary vote: May (Strasbourg)