In a letter sent on 25 October, over 50 NGOs from over a dozen EU countries have called on incoming Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to tighten the transparency requirements imposed on professionals lobbying the EU institutions to influence policy-making.
The letter was sent by watchdog group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) - an Amsterdam-based NGO. It claims that 15,000 full-time lobbyists currently operate in Brussels, playing "a powerful and increasingly undemocratic role in the EU political process". The letter mentions the example of a chemicals lobby group, the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum (BSEF) (see EurActiv, 21 October 2004), saying that "considerable efforts" are needed to find out that it is "an industry front group run from the Brussels offices of a global PR firm".
"At the moment, EU rules on lobbying are absurdly week," said Erik Wesselius, a researcher at CEO. He called on the Commission to follow the example set in 1995 by the US when it passed the Lobbying Disclosure Act, which obliges PR firms and lobby groups to list their clients, issues dealt with and corresponding budgets.
Those demands were rejected by the Society of European Affairs Professionals (SEAP), which represents professional lobbyists in Brussels. In a statement, SEAP said it was "against the compulsory registration of lobbyists in Brussels". Such a model, it said, would not correspond with the position of EU civil society groups who don't want the introduction of the American model in Europe.
In SEAP's view, "self-regulation is the best way to promote ethical behaviour with lobbyists, whether they represent business or civil society group interests". SEAP pointed to the ongoing strengthening of its self-regulatory code of conduct to conclude that there was "no need for EU legislation in this respect".
SEAP's code was criticised by CEO as being "extremely narrow and entirely voluntary".
