Press Release

November 9, 2005

BRUSSELS – The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) has called on the Commission to take concrete steps towards lobbying transparency following today’s Communication of the European Commission on the launch of a European Transparency Initiative (ETI).

“We welcome the Commission’s intention to bring EU transparency up to the highest standards, including introducing lobbying disclosure. We believe this can only be successfully achieved through mandatory lobbying disclosure rules”, said Erik Wesselius, from Corporate Europe Observatory, member of the steering committee of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU).

ALTER-EU, which is supported by over 150 civil society groups and trade unions [1], welcomed the Communication’s proposals on EU funding transparency as well as improving the register of Commission documents by including mail to and from the Commission staff. The Communication envisages a public debate over mandatory versus voluntary forms of lobbying transparency. However, the paper lists different options for this issue without providing a clear direction on this issue. The Communication has failed to address the issue of the privileged access granted to corporate lobbyists.

“The Barroso Commission analysed well the need for more transparency as a necessary step to build public trust. However it’s disappointing that the Commission hasn’t got any further than listing options on the table”, said Paul de Clerck, Corporate Accountability Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe and a member of the ALTER-EU steering committee.

“Now the Commission must now show it has the guts to take concrete measures that would secure lobbying transparency”, added Ulrich Müller of the German watchdog LobbyControl and member of the ALTER-EU steering Committee. “If the EU misses the opportunity to take positive steps forward over lobbying transparency, then the crisis of political legitimacy at the EU policies is likely to deepen further”.

“A self-regulatory system would fail to provide external transparency to EU citizens as the Com­munication itself calls for. Without a mandatory system of registration and reporting, those actors engaged in the most deceptive lobbying practices will simply not register. A voluntary system lacks credibility and would not increase trust or the engagement of EU citizens with the EU institutions”, said William Dinan, University of Strathclyde and member of ALTER-EU steering Committee.

ALTER-EU believes credible lobbying transparency can only be achieved by a mandatory system of electronic registration and reporting for all lobbyists with a significant annual lobbying budget. The disclosure must include information on clients, budgets and areas of work by lobbyists and should be made available in a fully searchable online database. [2]

“By using online databases, a mandatory register can be set up with only minimal cost to the Commission and tiny bureaucracy for those lobbying. In an information age, there is no excuse for not providing European citizens with the information to scrutinise lobbying activities in Brussels”, said Jorgo Riss, Director of Greenpeace EU Unit and a member of the ALTER-EU steering Committee.