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POLITICS-EU: Lobby Groups Face Greater Scrutiny
By Stefania Bianchi
BRUSSELS, Jul 20, 2005 (IPS) - A new Brussels-based lobby watchdog aims to curb the growing influence of powerful corporate lobby groups on European Union decision-making.
The Alliance for Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU), launched in Brussels Tuesday (Jul. 19) by Greenpeace and the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) says rules surrounding lobbying are "non existent". It is calling for radical changes.
Representing over 140 civil society groups, the ALTER-EU coalition will campaign for a mandatory system of registration and reporting for all European Union (EU) lobbyists, and enforceable ethical rules for lobby groups.
Greenpeace and CEO say corporate lobby groups, which include industrial associations, political consultants and cross-industry groups, are gaining "far too much political influence" in the EU decision-making process, and warn that such lobbying is often detrimental to the democratic process and undermines the legitimacy of the EU among citizens.
ALTER-EU says such a lack of accountability has resulted in a negative public opinion of the bloc and may have contributed to the French and Dutch rejections of the EU constitution earlier this year.
"The existing voluntary codes of conduct developed by the lobbying firms in Brussels fail to ensure transparency about who lobbies the EU and on whose behalf," Erik Wesselius from CEO, an Amsterdam-based campaign group which monitors the political influence of corporations and their lobby groups told media representatives at the launch.
"The increase of deceptive lobbying practices, such as pseudo-NGOs established to advocate industry positions is another reason why transparency and ethics around lobbying cannot be left to voluntary initiatives," he added.
The European Parliament website lists 5,039 accredited lobbyists working for a range of familiar names such as McDonald's and Visa. However, the CEO puts the total number of lobbyists at somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000, and says two-thirds of these represent big business. About 60 to 90 million euros (71.9 to 107.9 million dollars) a year are believed to be spent on lobbying.
In a report 'Lobbying in the European Union: Current Rules and Practices' published in 2003 the European Parliament said more than 70 percent of EU lobbyists work for corporate interests, and only 20 percent represent non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as trade unions, public health organisations and environmental groups.
The remaining 10 percent are sectoral lobby groups promoting the interests of regions, cities and international institutions.
ALTER-EU is also calling for the European Commission, the EU executive, to end the practice of "privileged access", where business interests enjoy a high level of undue influence with senior EU officials.
"The public pays a heavy price for the big-money lobbying that goes on in Brussels, since legislation to improve health and the environment loses out every time," said Jorgo Riss of Greenpeace Europe.
He pointed to the case of the PVC industry. "Eight years after the EU started addressing the environmental problems caused by 4.1 million tonnes of PVC plastic waste annually, the PVC industry has succeeded in preventing any real progress," Riss said.
ALTER-EU also wants to see an improved code of conduct for Commission officials to remedy the so called "revolving doors" process, where former high-ranking EU employees end up on the payroll of industry lobbyists.
The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say all European commissioners and other commission officials should be obliged to accept "substantial and well-defined cooling off periods" to prevent such cases.
One example of this is the case of former trade commissioner Leon Brittan (1993-94), who within a year of leaving the Commission became a consultant on World Trade Organisation (WTO) issues at the law firm Herbet Smith, vice-chairman of the investment bank UBS Warburg, and advisory director at Unilever.
The civil society coalition are calling for legislation similar to the U.S. lobbying disclosure act under which corporations, public relations firms and lobby groups are obliged to report comprehensively on issues they are lobbying for, for which clients, and with what budget.
"A system of electronic registration and reporting for lobbyists is entirely feasible and neither costly nor bureaucratic," William Dinan of the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, told media representatives.
"Lobbying transparency would enable citizens to scrutinise the role of lobbying in policy-making, and therefore fits perfectly in the European Commission's 'Plan-D for Democracy'," he added.
The launch of ALTER-EU follows plans by EU commissioner for administrative affairs, audit and anti-fraud Siim Kallas to increase openness and accessibility of EU institutions.
Earlier this year Kallas launched the European Transparency initiative which aims to increase openness and accessibility of EU institutions, raise awareness over the use of the EU budget and make the Union's institutions more accountable to the public..
Speaking Tuesday, the Estonian commissioner also welcomed the launch of ALTER-EU, adding that his European Transparency initiative had already received "enormous interest".
Kallas said "more concrete" Commission proposals on the issue will be produced by the end of the year in the form of a Green Paper.
But he warned that a mandatory system of registration may not be possible. "What is needed is more visibility. This means registration, but this commission has adopted an approach on less regulation," he said. "If done on a voluntary basis I would be happy, but I don't close the possibility that it will finally come to the need to introduce mandatory legislation."
ALTER-EU says it will make "concrete recommendations" on how best to shape rules to improve transparency and ethics around lobbying.
(END)
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