EU: The European Commission has backed away from imposing a mandatory registration system on the army of 15,000 lobbyists that seek to influence EU decision-making.
Instead, the EU executive proposes in a green paper published yesterday that a new voluntary register should be set up for corporate lobbyists, public affairs firms and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
It also invites the lobbying profession to agree a common code of conduct for its members, or at least common minimum requirements. A new watchdog with the power to impose sanctions could monitor the conduct of lobbyists, says the European Transparency Initiative paper published by Siim Kallas, the EU commissioner for administrative affairs.
"Lobbying is perfectly legitimate," said Mr Kallas. "But as the phenomenon grows, we must ensure there is clarity about who the lobbyists represent, what their mission is and how they are funded." Mr Kallas said it was not fair to accuse the commission of stepping back from proposing a system of mandatory registration because it has never taken that approach.
He said a voluntary approach was better than mandatory legislation or a directive, which would take a long time to come into force and which could include many loopholes.
But pressure groups that had been seeking a mandatory registration system to enable the public to better scrutinise corporate lobbyists said the proposals were weak.
"You need some good incentives to encourage lobbyists to sign up for a voluntary system but the commission proposals are very weak and unconvincing on this," said Erik Wesselius, who works in The Netherlands with the Corporate Europe Observatory, a group that monitors EU lobbying activities.
"The only incentive to sign up for the register is that lobbyists will be alerted by e-mail of consultations . . . but most lobbyists will already be aware of what is going on in an area of interest."
Less than 1,000 lobbyists have signed up to a previous voluntary register launched by the commission in 1992.
The green paper was published in response to growing concern about the level of influence that lobbyists exert on the EU institutions and the drafting of legislation.
Apart from obvious abuses by lobbyists, such as corruption, the green paper also outlines the potential problems created by the army of consultancies, public affairs firms, law firms, think tanks and NGOs that lobby the EU institutions.
It pinpoints some examples of improper lobbying methods, such as instances where lobbyists provide distorted information to the institutions about the possible economic, social or environmental impact of draft legislative proposals or where they organise mass lobbying campaigns using internet and e-mail that do not reflect the general public's genuine concerns on issues.
The paper also includes proposals to increase the amount of information available to the public on the amount of EU money that is spent by member states. Three-quarters of all EU funds, which amounts to €86.6 billion a year, is spent in partnership with EU states, which have the final say on whether to publish how the money is spent.