‘Commission needs lobbying footprint, too’

The European Commission should publish a list of all lobbyists that it consults when drafting legislation, according to the MEP in charge of revising the European Parliament’s lobbying rules.

Finnish centre-right MEP Alexander Stubb, who is drafting a report on changes to the Parliament’s internal rules, says that the Commission should publish a "legislative footprint", listing which interest group representatives it has heard from when it presents draft legislation. Stubb is also proposing that MEPs drafting reports produce a footprint as well but he now says that this should be only on a voluntary basis, following opposition to a mandatory requirement from some MEPs who argued the administrative burden would be excessive.

"MEPs can do a legislative report but the one [institution] that should have a legislative footprint is the Commission," he told European Voice.

A Commission official said that under the better regulation rules the Commission was already publishing the names and contributions to consultations when drafting legislation. The official said that the Commission would look at the Parliament’s proposal for a legislative footprint, compare it with current practice and see if there were any ideas worth examining. He added that the Commission welcomed the overall thrust of Stubb’s report on the Parliament’s lobbying rules, highlighting Stubb’s call for a joint institutional register and close convergence on the shape and form of the register for lobbyists.

• The three main associations representing public affairs professionals in the EU, SEAP, EPACA and IPRA, were this week finalising their joint response to the Commission’s draft code of conduct for lobbyists published in December. The three groups are expected to back the Commission’s approach, although it has been criticised by transparency campaigners for being weaker than lobbyists’ existing codes and by lawyers’ associations for wanting to include a wide range of their activities under the lobbying disclosure rules.

The European Commission should publish a list of all lobbyists that it consults when drafting legislation, according to the MEP in charge of revising the European Parliament’s lobbying rules.