High-level groups – bane or blessing?

Date: 20/04/06

While all three of the main EU institutions are committed to the better regulation agenda which Commission President Jos�anuel Barroso has made one of the key priorities of his term of office, it was bound to lead to a power struggle between the Commission, Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.

Initial skirmishes between MEPs and the Commission over plans to scrap outdated or deadlocked draft legislation died down without leading to a major clash between the two bodies. But now the issue of high-level groups has become the latest flash point.

Monica Frassoni, co-leader of the Greens/EFA group in the Parliament, has won the support of leaders of the three other main political groups for refusing to appoint MEPs to a high-level group (HLG) on competitiveness, energy and the environment set up at the instigation of Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry G�nter Verheugen.

The group is made up of Verheugen plus the three commissioners for energy, environmental and competition policy, four ministers for economics and industry, ten senior representatives of energy-producing companies and energy-intensive industries and eight representatives of regulators and environmental NGOs. Their remit is to improve co-ordination between policymaking and legislation and develop a more integrated approach among the three policy areas.

The group held its first full meeting on 28 February and experts from four sub-groups met at the end of March. These groups are looking at the functioning of the electricity and gas markets, the EU's emissions trading scheme, competitiveness and access to cost-effective energy for energy-intensive industries and energy efficiency.

Sherpas (representatives of HLG members) will meet on 20 April to draft preliminary conclusions for the next full meeting of the group on 2 June.

But leaders of Parliament's main groups are still refusing to appoint MEPs to the HLG.

Group leaders argue that there is a potential conflict of interest between asking members to sit on the panel in a personal capacity and their role as co-legislator in EU decision-making procedures. Barroso spoke to group leaders during the Parliament's last Strasbourg session but his explanations have not yet assuaged MEPs' concerns.

Green MEPs also complain that large energy producers and users are overrepresented on the group. They have lobbied, in vain so far, for a representative of the renewable energy industry to be appointed to the group. They are keen to avoid a repeat of what happened with the Cars 21 group which drew up a report on improving regulation in the automotive sector but where representatives of carmakers outweighed advocates of stricter pollution and fuel consumption limits.

A senior Commission official argues that the number of members of the group needs to be limited to keep it manageable and effective. He points out, for example, that the coal industry is not represented on the group despite being a major energy player. "We have bent over backwards to accommodate the environmental community," the official said. The number of places for environmental NGOs was increased from one to two (WorldWide Fund for Nature and the European Environmental Bureau) after pressure was put on the Commission.

The official also rejected MEPs' claims that the group was designed to roll back existing environmental legislation by giving large industry groups direct influence over the EU's decision-making process. In particular, he dismissed suggestions that the group's aim was to dismantle the EU's emissions trading system (ETS). The scheme has been criticised by energy intensive industries for further increasing energy prices at a time of tight markets and supply fears.

The ETS was one of four important issues the group would be looking at, the official said, but he added that the group was "not Verheugen's secret weapon for undermining the ETS".

The official noted that the system had only been running for a year and that the Commission's environment department was working on a review of the system. "The question is how to optimise the system," he said.

The official also pointed out that Parliament's stance on MEPs' participation was not entirely consistent as the assembly appointed two deputies to a high-level group on pharmaceuticals the same day as it refused to do the same for the energy and environment HLG.

One of the sherpas on the group thought that the Parliament was missing an opportunity to represent the views of environmentalists on the group. He said he thought it likely that had the assembly nominated MEPs it could only have contributed to the impact of the pro-environment lobby as most of the leading experts in the Parliament on issues such as emissions trading were sympathetic to arguments of some green NGOs.

The sherpa also argued that rather than undermining the traditional decision-making process and giving industry a greater say over policymaking, HLGs were bringing the consultation process into the open. "The Commission is making a structure for lobbying," he said. Lists of the group's members, the group's mandate and submissions to the group were all available on the Commission's website.

This is a point shared, not surprisingly, by Verheugen's staff. The groups were designed to help the Commission produce better quality proposals, said a spokesman, adding: "The alternative is to return to the old- style lawmaking behind closed doors.

"These groups may not be perfect but they are a major improvement on the old status quo."

The Commission is currently consulting around 30 HLGs as part of its drive to pay more attention to industry and stakeholders in order to improve the quality of legislation. These groups are not about to go away and the Parliament clearly needs to work out how to approach them in a way that ensures that they do not simply become a direct line from industry to the Commission for putting their views across. Simply boycotting them might give Parliament a moral victory, but it could prove counter-productive in the long-run.

Article reports on a dispute between the European Parliament and the European Commission over the latter's increasing use of high-level groups of experts. MEPs continued to refuse to appoint their representatives to a high-level group (HLG) on competitiveness, energy and the environment set up at the instigation of Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry Günter Verheugen. Parliamentarians argue that there were potential conflicts of interest and that excessive use of these groups could undermine the traditional decision-making process. The European Commission was currently consulting around 30 HLGs as part of its drive to pay more attention to industry and stakeholders in order to improve the quality of legislation.

• Primary Source

The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament: Press Release: High level groups: Group leaders unanimously criticise Verheugen's planned High Level Group, 20.2.06 http://www.greens-efa.org/cms/default/dok/107/107090.high_level_groups@en.htm

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