Kallas urges lobbyists to co-operate on EU register 

Speaking in Brussels on 18 June 2007, Kallas told the Federation of European and International Associations Established in Belgium (FAIB ): "I want to state it quite clearly: there is no point in lobbying against a decision already taken. The register will open in Spring 2008." 

Kallas went on to explain that "the profession therefore has two options - the first...is to work against the initiative, in which case self-regulation will prove a failure, leading us towards mandatory registration, for which there is probably sufficient support in both the European Parliament and in the broader public." 

In this case, he said, lobbyists would most likely be asked to declare every single lobby "event", rather than submit a rough annual report on the previous year. 

"I'm not saying this as a threat, because it is an end result I have tried to avoid from the beginning," Kallas added. 

He explained that a second option would be to work with the Commission to design the register "in a manner allowing as many interest representatives as possible to join. We're open for dialogue on the second option, which remains my preferred option."

Since Kallas's Communication to the Commission on the European Transparency Initiative   was adopted by the College on 21 March 2007, the Commission has decided:

• To create and launch a new voluntary register for interest representatives
  with an 'alert' function;
• to reinforce the application of the Commission's consultation standards
  using a standard website for internet consultations, linked to the register, and;
• to draft a code of conduct for relations between interest representatives and
  the EU institutions. The code will be a requirement for inclusion in the register
  and will be monitored by the Commission. According to Kallas, detailed discussions with
  stakeholders are already well under way.
  

Kallas told FAIB delegates: "Through co-operation on the register, we can resist any campaign to outlaw or discredit legitimate interest representation, and we can ensure a solid, sustainable foundation for the credibility and legitimacy of the business. We can keep the EU institutions open and accessible without daily contacts between us being subjected to bureaucratic hurdles. And by acting now, in the absence of a lobbying "scandal", we can help to prevent scandals and we can address the ever increasing level of lobbying of EU institutions in a cool-headed analytical state of mind."

But consumer organisations have previously questioned the Commission's drive for self regulation - Jim Murray, director of European consumers' organisation BEUC , in March 2007 pointed to several self-regulation initiatives that ended in failure (such as detergents, cars' CO2 emissions), and argued the case for an independent study to evaluate the EU's self-regulation drive. "It is a triumph of hope over experience," he concluded. 

And the Society of European Affairs Practitioners (SEAP ), the association of professional lobbyists in Brussels, maintained its previous criticism of the initiative: "Contrary to what Kallas states in his speech, the self-regulation of European affairs practitioners is rigorous and effective," said SEAP President Rogier Chorus.