Tag: Transparency initiative

Plans to establish a joint register of lobbyists for the European Parliament and the European Commission were today (11 May) formally given the green light at a plenary session of the EU assembly in Strasbourg, paving the way for the registry to go online in June.  

EU member states are reluctant to reveal whether or not they support proposals by the European Commission to overhaul EU transparency law, a media investigation carried out this week reveals, triggering fears that the European Union is becoming less accountable to citizens.  

European Parliament Vice-President Diana Wallis yesterday (15 September) welcomed an announcement by the Council that it will "review" plans to draw up a common lobby register for all three European institutions. 

Participants in the European Commission’s lobby register should declare expenditure on lobbying Council presidencies and permanent representations of EU member states, the EU executive said yesterday (28 October), presenting tighter financial disclosure requirements as part of a wide-ranging review of the scheme. But transparency campaigners criticised the revision for failing to fix "fundamental flaws".

Not enough law firms or think-tanks have signed up to the European Commission’s lobby register, Administration and Anti-Fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas said on Tuesday (8 September).

Lobby transparency is unlikely to be a priority for the Swedish EU Presidency given that the appointment of a new European Commission and ratification of the Lisbon Treaty will have to be dealt with under Stockholm's watch, the executive director of the European Centre for Public Affairs, Tom Spencer, told EurActiv.

The European Commission yesterday (22 June) declared the first year of its lobby register a success ahead of an internal review next month. But officials admitted that more bodies would have to sign up for the scheme to paint a "full picture" of lobbying in Brussels.

The European Commission last week (4 June) hinted at possible changes to its lobbyists register ahead of a review in July. The development comes as the register is set to celebrate its first birthday.

Plans to create a single lobby register for the EU executive and the European Parliament gained momentum yesterday (22 April) after representatives of both institutions agreed common guidelines and a code of conduct. But transparency campaigners labelled the proposals "very disappointing".

Sweden's "strong stated commitment" to transparency presents a good opportunity for the Council to review its "so far hesitant attitude" to the EU executive's lobbyists register during the country's upcoming EU presidency, Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas told public affairs professionals last week, revealing that he had written to the Swedes to urge progress towards a register common to all three institutions.

EU Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros last week urged the European Commission to set up a "comprehensive" document register, responding to complaints from transparency NGOs that the EU executive fails to register the "vast majority" of its documentation.

The European Parliament has urged the Union's institutions to improve the public's access to EU documents, specifically calling upon the Council to make details of its debates public.

Excessive lobbying of the EU institutions by businesses putting profit before moral values is giving industry a bad reputation, Romanian MEP Daniel Daianu told a conference last week, claiming that "honesty and transparency are needed more than ever".

Debate over the registration of interest groups lobbying the EU institutions will continue beyond the inauguration of new commissioners and MEPs in 2009, said Rinus van Schendelen, deputy chairman of the European Centre for Public Affairs and professor of political science at Rotterdam's Erasmus University, in an interview with EurActiv.

The European Commission yesterday (2 October) launched a website making details of the beneficiaries of EU funding publicly available for the first time.

The European Commission yesterday (23 June) launched a voluntary register for lobbyists seeking to influence its policymaking amid criticism from transparency groups that the scheme does not go far enough.

The European Commission has adopted a code of conduct regulating lobbyists' behaviour as a forerunner to the voluntary register to be launched by Administration and Anti-Fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas on 23 June.

The European Commission has identified 23 June 2008 as the target date for the publication of a voluntary lobbyists register and accompanying code of conduct, Administration and Anti-Fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas announced yesterday (8 May) following the adoption in Parliament of a landmark report on lobbying.

The European Parliament is widely expected to approve a landmark report on lobbying during its Brussels plenary session next week (8 May), representing a key moment in the drive to improve the transparency of the EU institutions and the estimated 15,000 lobbyists who seek to influence them.

The Commission's upcoming lobbyists register should be mandatory and common to all three institutions, recommends a report adopted on Tuesday (1 April) in the European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee. But some NGOs and transparency groups believe the proposals are inadequate.

As of next year, member states will be required to make public a list of all recipients of EU agricultural subsidies, together with full details of amounts received, putting an end to the traditional secrecy surrounding handouts from the EU’s largest fund.

Journalists are the least trusted when it comes to integrity and honesty, according to lobbyists surveyed for the European Centre for Public Affairs (ECPA). The poll also found Parliament to have "a strong civil society bias" while the Commission and Council are seen as more favourable to business arguments.

Public affairs, or the "interaction of society with its political institutions," is essential to democracy, particularly a 'new' democracy on a continental scale such as the EU, writes Tom Spencer, executive director of the European Centre for Public Affairs (ECPA), in an article for EU Reporter.

Public authorities should make a new commitment to reach the outsiders among minority interests and the 'silent majority' to prevent lobbying from becoming a "monopolising channel of influence towards the EU institutions", according to EU citizens' association ECAS.