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Press Release
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Press Release
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Lobbying transparency key to EU democratic legitimacy, say NGOs BRUSSELS A new civil society coalition today presented its demands for mandatory disclosure and ethic rules for EU lobbyists. The official launch of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) was attended by EU Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud Siim Kallas, who in March 2005 initiated the European Transparency Initiative. ALTER-EU's founding statement, which calls for an end to the current secrecy and privileged access to EU decision-makers enjoyed by business interests, is supported by over 140 civil society groups, trade unions, academics and public affairs firms. "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," said Erik Wesselius of the Amsterdam-based lobbying watchdog group Corporate Europe Observatory. "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," said Wesselius. "We are launching the new coalition to support Commissioner Kallas in his efforts to improve transparency around lobbying", said Paul de Clerck, corporate accountability campaigner with Friends of the Earth Europe. "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 European Unit. "For example, 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, and has recruited two senior Commission officials to a public relations exercise that recycles a mere 0.44% of this waste." "A system of electronic registration and reporting for lobbyists is entirely feasible and neither costly nor bureaucratic", said William Dinan of the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. Dinan recommended Commissioner Kallas to evaluate the lobbying disclosure laws in place in Canada and the US and develop a state-of-the art online transparency database for EU lobbyists. "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'," said Dinan. In the coming months, ALTER-EU will make concrete recommendations on how best to shape rules to improve transparency and ethics around lobbying. ALTER-EU aims to make a positive contribution to the work of the European Commission inter-services group which has been set up to move the European Transparency Initiative forward.
For more information, please contact: Katharine Mill, Greenpeace European Unit, + 32 2 274 1903 katharine.mill@diala.greenpeace.org (press enquiries) Notes [1] The call for "Ending corporate privileges and secrecy around lobbying in the European Union" - the founding statement of the Alliance for Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) - and a list of signatories is online at http://www.alter-eu.org [2] Commissioner Kallas first announced The European Transparency Initiative (ETI) in a flagship speech on 5 March 2005. The ETI is among other things intended to correct the current lack of transparency around the over 15,000 lobbyists working to influence the EU institutions.
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