Regulators put lobbyists on alert

By Tim King

Date: 22/09/05

LOBBYING of the EU institutions is under intense scrutiny, perhaps more intense than at any time in the history of the Union.

A multi- million euro industry is fighting to preserve its professional reputation and has embarked on a protracted bout of introspection and self-justification.

When Siim Kallas, the European commissioner with responsibility for administration and the fight against fraud, announced his 'Transparency Initiative' in March, he triggered a minor frenzy of lobbying about lobbying.

The professional lobbyists of Brussels are in the uncomfortable position of having to defend their methods and organisation. Their enemies, who include a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), have scented the possibility of greater regulation and are pressing home their case.

Caught between these warring factions, the Commission is looking on, contemplating its next move, which will come at the end of October.

Kallas has indicated that he is not happy with the status quo, that he wants greater transparency from the lobbyists and about lobbying. But he has also recognised that there are potential pitfalls in legislation, such as problems in defining lobbyists.

He has also raised questions about the accountability of NGOs, saying that they too need to be more transparent about who funds them and why.

Indeed, the Commission is determined not to separate the issue of disclosure by lobbyists from a wider package of transparency issues.

The Transparency Initiative was conceived as a package and, according to Kallas' officials, its chances of success depend on it remaining as a package.

There are three strands to the initiative. One element is the suggestion that the names should be published of end-recipients of EU funds, particularly of farm payments and structural funds, together with the amounts received. That measure makes demands of the national governments.

The second element is a tightening up of codes of conduct and declarations of interest for EU officials and MEPs. The burden here will fall particularly on the European Parliament but will also affect the Commission.

The third element is increased disclosure requirements for lobbyists and NGOs, making more visible what they are doing and who is paying them. So the package is deliberately balanced as to who is affected and who must make concessions.

In turn that means that the pace of advance towards any greater regulation will be moderate. A report being prepared for the College of commissioners will be ready at the end of October. The next step after that would be a Green Paper discussing regulatory options.

In the meantime, the Commission is weighing up the effectiveness and transparency of existing rules on lobbying. The European Parliament introduced a code of conduct in 1996. Denying a lobbyist accreditation to visit the Parliament is seen by some as the most important possible sanction. A Parliament report estimated that there were 70,000 individual contacts between lobbyists and MEPs in a year.

Also under scrutiny are the methods of self-regulation. The European Public Affairs Consultancies Association (EPACA) was launched, with a code of conduct, at the beginning of 2005. The Society of European Affairs Professionals (SEAP), introduced its revised code of conduct in 2004.

The Commission has been asking questions about the strength of this self-regulation, the extent to which compliance with codes is monitored and whether the practice of individual lobbyists is investigated.

Tougher self-regulation would not be enough to satisfy the alliance of civil society groups that has signed up to the campaign group ALTER-EU. They claim that "ethics and transparency rules around lobbying are virtually non-existent" and are demanding "a mandatory system for lobbying disclosure".

They point to practices introduced in Washington D.C. Only last month, the American League of Lobbyists backed wider application of lobbying disclosure rules to all involved in public affairs and called for online disclosure of lobbying reports.

The introduction of such requirements in Brussels is still a long way off but the lobbyists are awaiting Kallas' next pronouncement with an unusually anxious degree of self-interest.

Article reports on the European Transparency Initiative, launched by the European Commissioner responsible for Anti-fraud, Siim Kallas, in March 2005, under which he was planning to introduce greater transparency to the methods and organisation of lobbyists and pressure groups around the EU 's institutions.

European Commission: Commissioners: Siim Kallas: Transparency Initiative http://ec.europa.eu/comm/commission_barroso/kallas/transparency_en.htm

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