Parliament will vote on the report , originally drafted by Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and for which German MEP Ingo Friedrich (EPP-ED) is now the rapporteur, during its plenary session in Brussels on 8 May. 

The upcoming lobbyists register must include "detailed legislative footprints showing which lobbyists were consulted on and contributed to individual bits of legislation" if it is to provide a "strong tool for making the goals and methods of EU lobbyists more transparent," Jana Mittermaier, the head of Transparency International's Brussels office, argued yesterday (7 May). 

The anti-corruption watchdog identified the following "most effective means for improving transparency and accountability in lobbying at EU level": 

• Naming individual lobbyists; 
• Disclosing full financial means of all lobbyists, including think tanks and lawyers; 
• Introducing monitoring and sanction mechanisms for cases of lobbying misconduct, and; 
• Ensuring there is a strong, detailed and properly enforced code of conduct in place to complement the mandatory register. 

Regardless of the outcome of the vote in Parliament, the Commission is expected to launch its own register in the near future. 

The EU executive needs to ensure its register is "up and running before the summer break," said Mittermaier, calling for the timeline for this to be accelerated so the future joint register can "build on the experience and the infrastructure" of its counterpart. 

Ahead of today's vote, politicians and pressure groups alike outlined their positions on lobbying in the EU institutions. 

Welcoming the likely adoption of the report, the Socialist Group in the European Parliament said drawing up new rules for lobbyists will "help reinforce the confidence of citizens in the legislative work of the European Parliament and make the relationship between lobbyists and the European Parliament more transparent". 

Socialist MEP Richard Corbett (UK) said the Socialist Group supports "all the proposals in the report" and expressed his hope that the debate and vote would go well. 

EPP-ED TV presenter Eimear O'Mahony told the group's online television channel that the report will "ensure a transparent relationship between lobbying and the Parliament". Lobbyists "play an essential role in the open and pluralistic dialogue of the EU legislative process," she added. 

Finnish MEP Anneli Jäätteenmäki, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group in the European Parliament, said "ALDE recognise that interest groups are a vital and necessary part of the democratic process," but called for more transparency "right across the board". 

Advocating "maximum disclosure of lobbying activity", Jäätteenmäki said ALDE "agree that a common register with the other institutions is a good idea". 

Describing the report as a "good starting point despite several attempts to water it down," the European United Left  / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group said its call for a "mandatory register for all lobbyists with full financial disclosure, along with rules on monitoring and sanctioning abuses" was "much needed". 

Monica Frassoni, the co-president of the Greens / European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, said the vote gives MEPs a "unique chance to live up to the expectations of citizens regarding transparency in the EU institutions," adding: "The credibility of the Parliament on this issue is at stake and we believe citizens should weigh the talk of their MEP with their actual voting on the issue of transparency." 

Regarding the definition of lobbyists, Frassoni insisted that when engaging in lobbying activities, lawyers must be made to register "in the same way as all other lobbyists". She also called for a "serious sanction mechanism" involving the "publication of those lobbyists who act in an unethical way" to be introduced. 

Moreover, "detailed information on finances and expenditures linked to lobbying activities" must be included in a common register for all three institutions "established by the end of this year," Frassoni said. 

Jana Mittermaier, the head of Transparency International's Brussels office, stressed the need for the EU to "increase transparency and accountability in lobbying practices to prevent undue influence and to strengthen the trust of European citizens in European institutions". 

"There are more than 15,000 lobbyists wandering the halls of the European institutions looking to influence EU legislation," she added. 

Friends of the Earth Europe's Paul de Clerck, a member of the steering committee of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU), called on MEPs to "face up to their responsibilities and take this opportunity to achieve real and lasting progress in improving transparency of lobbying activities in Brussels". 

ALTER-EU is calling for a common, mandatory register for "all lobbyists" to be introduced including their names and those of their clients and financial backers, featuring "full financial disclosure" and "action to close loopholes on registration for lawyers".