Announcing the European Transparency Initiative [March 2005-May 2006]
The Green Paper on a European Transparency Initiative [May 2006]
The public consultation on the ETI [May 2006-March 2007]
The follow-up communication to the ETI [March 2007]
Consultation on a Code of Conduct for lobbyists [Spring 2007-February 2008]
The debate in the European Parliament [Summer 2007-May 2008]
Waiting for the register [March 2007-June 2008]

European Commissioner Kallas (Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud) first announced the need for a European Transparency Initiative in a speech in March 2005, stating that lobbyists' "[...] transparency is too deficient in comparison to the impact of their activities."

A communication followed in November 2005, announcing stricter regulation of lobbying activities and the launch of a debate on rules and standards on professional ethics of public office holders in the European Institutions.

	see ALTER-EU letter on transparency to the Commission ( January 2006)

	see ALTER-EU recommendations on lobby transparency and ethics in the European Union (January 2006)

On May 3rd 2006, the European Comission published the long-awaited Green Paper on a European Transparency Initiative, confirming that "when lobby groups seek to contribute to EU policy development, it must be clear to the general public which input they provide to the European institutions. It must also be clear who they represent, what their mission is and how they are funded." However, the paper fails to deliver transparency around the role of lobbying by proposing only a voluntary registration system for lobbyists.

	see ALTER-EU's media advisory on the launch of the ETI Green Paper (1 May 2006)

	see ALTER-EU press release: EU fails to develop credible transparency rules (3 May 2006)

	see FoEE's analysis: Transparency in EU decision making: reality or myth? ( May 2006)

The launch of the Green Paper was followed by a four-month online consultation on the ETI, inviting the public to submit comments on the three chapters of the Green Paper.

	ALTER-EU submission to the European Transparency Initiative Consultation (July 2006) - Lobbying - Consultation

	FoEE submission to the European Transparency Initiative Consultation (July 2006) - Lobbying - Consultation - EU funding (joint NGO contribution - Aug 2006)

In October 2006, ALTER-EU published a media briefing to summarise the key lessons from the consultation on the ETI Green Paper.

	ALTER-EU Media Briefing: Effective lobbying transparency within reach if European Commission shows leadership and courage (Oct 2006)

By contrast, it took the Commission several more months to evaluate the consultation and announce the next steps. Waiting for the comunication from the Commission, ALTER-EU sent comments to Commissioner Kallas and several other Commissioners.

	ALTER-EU letter to all Commissioners on the forthcoming communication on the ETI (07 March 2007)

	ALTER-EU letter to Commissioner Kallas on the forthcoming communication on the ETI (13 March 2007)

One day before the publication of the Commission's follow-up comunication, ALTER-EU issued a media briefing outlining the key questions which should be answered in the communciation in order to deliver meaningful transparency.

	ALTER-EU media brief: Crunch time for EU lobbying transparency (20 March 2007)

On March 21st 2007, the Commission finally published its follow-up communication to the ETI, taking first steps towards financial transparency but announcing only a weak voluntary register for lobbyists. The results of the consultation were published in a separate document. Additionally, Frequently Asked Questions were answered in a Memo.

	ALTER-EU press release: Commision proposal on voluntary lobby register - an important but too timid step towards EU lobbying transparency (21 March 2007)

Over the spring and summer, the Commission organised several 'stakeholder dialogues' to discuss a code of conduct for interest representatives. the discussion was aimed to find 'common denominators' rather than a detailed, strong code.

In December 2007, the Commission published a draft code of conduct for interest representatives proposing only very basic and weak rules. A 2-month public consultation followed.

	ALTER-EU submission to the Code of Conduct consultation (22 January 2007)

The European Parliament prepared an own-initiative report on a framework for the activities of lobbyists in the European institutions. The lead committee was AFCO (Constitutional affairs) under rapporteur Alexander Stubb. Previously, five other committees adopted opinions on the dossier:

> Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (29 November 2007)
> Committee on Legal Affairs (20 December 2007)
> Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (8 January 2008)
> Committee on Budgetary Control (22 January 2007)
> Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (28 February 2008)

Summaries of the main points can be found here

Taking into account these opinions as well as a Legal Opinion (Legal basis for a mandatory registration of lobbyists and possible sanctions foreseen by such a system) by the parliamentary legal service, the rapporteur drafted a final report. The report stresses that lobbying must be transparent and takes a positive standpoint towards a common lobbyists' register of all the European institutions. It was adopted on 1st of April 2008 by 18 positive votes, 1 vote against and 3 abstentions.

With little variation, the full plenary adopted the report on 8 May 2008.

The Commission took its time to set up the new register. To support the implementation of a meaningful EU lobbying transparency register, ALTER-EU issued recommendations and benchmarks on the design of the register

	ALTER-EU Benchmarks for the EU lobbying transparency register (04 February 2008)

In meetings between ALTER-EU and Commission representatives, it became clear that the Commission backtracked on transparency: in the drafts for the register, two crucial pieces of information were missing:
1) names of individual lobbyists and
2) meaningful information on how much money is spent on lobbying.

Alarmed, ALTER-EU wrote to Commission President Barroso and issued a press release.

	ALTER-EU letter to Commisison president Barroso on the Implementation of European Commission lobbying register (13 February 2008)

	ALTER-EU press release: ALTER-EU rings alarm bell over European Commission backtracking on lobbying transparency (13 February 2008)

Finally, on 23 June 2008, the Commission launches the long-awaited register for lobbyists. But it is weak and unbalanced. Some of the major flaws are:

> The Commission lobby register is voluntary
> There will be no names of individual lobbyists. This means no exposure of scandals, no trace of revolving doors, no information on possible conflicts of interest and continued confusion over the number of lobbyists active in Brussels.
> The rules for financial disclosure are weak and skewed in favour of industry lobbyists. Different interest groups are allowed to calculate data in different ways, such as in percentage bands of total expenses or in wide ranges; and financial reporting will not be comparable, since industry lobbyists are asked to give a "good faith estimate" of their lobbying expenditure in Brussels, while public interest organisations must disclose their total budget.
> The lack of common data disclosure rules means that the information published cannot be compared or aggregated. For example, journalists will not be able to ascertain how much money was spent by the agro-chemical lobby as a whole to influence legislators, but only what each company has spent, excluding fees paid to consultancies.

	ALTER-EU press release: One step forward, two steps back? New Commission EU lobby register is weak and unbalanced (23 June 2008)

vi

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