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Never Mind the Lobbyists' Fee |
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Inter Press Service , 17 May 2007
David Cronin
BRUSSELS, May 17 (IPS) - Corporate lobbyists in Brussels are resisting calls by
European Union legislators to disclose how much they receive from firms
determined to water down EU rules on the environment and public health.
The EU's executive arm, the European Commission, is hoping to open a public
register for lobbyists in Spring 2008. Those who agree to lodge their details
in it would state their turnover linked to lobbying the EU institutions and the
clients that have paid them to do so.
Siim Kallas, the European commissioner in charge of this Transparency
Initiative, has said that lobbyists who present a false financial picture would
face sanctions, including the possibility of a public denunciation.
Nonetheless, he says they should see the register as an "opportunity rather than
a threat," as it could make it easier for potential new clients to contact them.
Yet both critics of corporate lobbying and those who make their living from it
doubt if it can be effective.
John Stauber from the Centre for Media and Democracy in the U.S., which monitors
the activities of the public relations industry, said that the biggest flaw in
the EU initiative is that firms will be allowed to decide whether or not they
wish to register. "I consider the idea of a voluntary regulation laughable," he
told IPS. "You can't hold someone responsible for violating something
voluntary."
A corporate lobbyist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it is "utterly
puzzling" why financial disclosure is being sought. "This would be a breach of
our confidentiality agreements with clients. You also have to remember that
this is a competitive sector and it could be very damaging if each different
consultancy can see how much each of us is being funded by a certain
organisation. There isn't any other sector that has to do this, so why should
we?"
The growth in power wielded by EU institutions has caused the number of
lobbyists in Brussels to proliferate over the past few decades. At 15,000, the
number of lobbyists in the purported capital of Europe is about 5,000 short of
the number in Washington.
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), an organisation tracking the influence of
the private sector on EU policy, estimates that the combined turnover of
lobbying firms in Brussels could be as high as 750 million euros (1 billion
dollars) per year.
CEO spokesman Erik Wesselius says that some academic studies indicate that
almost 40 percent of European public affairs companies are bankrolled by U.S.
clients. "Increasingly, we are seeing tactics developed in the U.S. being used
here."
One of the most misleading strategies employed is the use of front groups who
campaign on behalf of a firm, without making it clear how they are funded.
Burson Marsteller, one of the five largest public relations company in the
world, has run front groups financed by the biotechnology industry in the U.S.
for many years, and is now doing so in Europe.
For example, it established European Women for HPV Testing, which campaigned for
routine testing for the human pappilomavirus to ensure early detection of
cervical cancer. This group attracted support from celebrities such as the
actress Liz Hurley and novelist Jilly Cooper before it emerged that it worked
for the U.S. biotechnology company Digene. As Digene had patented an HPV test
kit, it stood to reap handsome profits from a successful campaign.
Contacted by IPS, Burson Marsteller said that the head of its European
operations, Jeremy Galbraith, was unavailable for comment.
Among the firm's other clients are the tobacco giant Phillip Morris, which has
been leading efforts to neuter anti-smoking efforts on both sides of the
Atlantic, and nuclear power companies determined to convince legislators that
they offer the solution to climate change.
Although associated with the Republican Party in the U.S., Burson Marsteller has
been cultivating a more bipartisan image lately. Its chief executive Mark Penn
is a top campaign adviser to Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic contender
in next year's presidential election.
Another area of lobbying that requires regulation, says Wesselius, is the 'think
tanks' or centres for policy studies who are trying to prevent Europe from
taking the lead in fighting global warming.
One such think tank, the International Council for Capital Formation, has an
office address on the same street as the European Parliament. It has been
organising seminars attended by some of Europe's decision-making elite, at
which the generally accepted scientific opinion that carbon dioxide emissions
must be reduced dramatically, has been questioned.
Margo Thorning, its managing director, said recently that a large-scale shift to
renewable energy or alternatives to fossil fuels blamed for climate change is
not technically feasible and that nuclear power should be promoted as a
practical solution.
Corporate Europe Observatory says it has asked the International Council for
information on how it is funded but that it declined to divulge those details.
Thorning was also unavailable for comment when contacted by IPS.
The International Council is the European branch of the American Council for
Capital Formation, which has been sharply critical of the Kyoto Protocol on
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The American Council has been funded by the
oil giant Exxon Mobil.
Despite their criticisms of U.S. lobbying tactics, transparency campaigners say
that the United States at least has a mandatory system of financial disclosure
for lobbyists.
Wesselius argued that the absence of such a system in the EU means that scandals
similar to the U.S. one in which Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff was convicted
of seeking to corrupt law-makers with money, meals and free holidays, may be
going undetected in Europe.
"I'm pretty sure that a mandatory system would allow us to uncover quite a few
stories that wouldn't be accepted if they were publicly known," he said. |
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