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The European Parliament adopted
by 547 votes to 24 and 59 abstentions, a resolution on the development of the
framework for the activities of interest representatives (lobbyists) in the
European institutions. The own-initiative report was tabled for consideration
in plenary by Ingo FRIEDRICH (EPP-ED, DE) on behalf of the
Constitutional Affairs Committee. Improving Parliament's
transparency: Parliament recognises the influence of lobby groups on EU
decision-making and therefore considers it essential that Members of
Parliament should know the identity of the organisations represented by lobby
groups. It emphasises that equal access to all the EU institutions is an
absolute prerequisite for the Union's legitimacy and trust among its
citizens. It is, moreover, essential that representatives of civil society
have access to the EU institutions, first and foremost to Parliament. In this context, Parliament
acknowledges that a rapporteur may, as he or she sees fit (on a voluntary
basis), use a "legislative footprint", i.e. an indicative list,
attached to a Parliamentary report, of registered interest representatives
who were consulted and had significant input during the preparation of the
report. It stresses that it is equally important for the Commission to attach
such "legislative footprints" to its legislative initiatives. Commission proposal:
Members welcome the Commission's proposal for a more structured framework for
the activities of interest representatives as a part of the European
Transparency Initiative. They agree with the Commission's definition of lobbying
as "activities carried out with the objective of influencing the policy
formulation and decision-making processes of the EU institutions".
All players, including both public and private interest representatives,
outside the EU institutions falling within that definition and regularly
influencing the institutions, should be considered lobbyists and treated in
the same way: professional lobbyists, companies' in-house lobbyists, NGOs,
think-tanks, trade associations, trade unions and employers' organisations,
profit-making and non-profit-making organisations and lawyers when their
purpose is to influence policy rather than to provide legal assistance and
defence in legal proceedings or to give legal advice. Parliament also welcomes in
principle the Commission's proposal for a "one-stop shop" where
lobbyists could register with both the Commission and Parliament. It
calls for an interinstitutional agreement between the Council, the Commission
and Parliament on a common mandatory register that would be applicable in all
institutions and include full financial disclosure, a common mechanism of
removal from the register and a common code of ethical conduct. Bearing in
mind, however, the essential differences between the institutions, Parliament
reserves the right to evaluate the Commission's proposal when it is finalised
and, only then, to decide on whether to support it. Parliament calls for
mutual recognition between the Council, the Commission and Parliament of
separate registers in the event that a common register is not agreed. It goes on to propose that a
joint working group of Council representatives, Commissioners and Members of
the European Parliament should be set up without delay, with the aim of
considering, by the end of 2008, the implications of a common register for
all lobbyists. Any code should contain a strong monitoring element with
regard to the conduct of lobbyists. Members stress that sanctions should
apply to lobbyists who breach the code of conduct, and sufficient resources
(staff and funding) must be set aside for the purposes of verifying the
information on the register. For the Commission's register sanctions may
include suspension from the register, and in more serious cases removal from
the register. The resolution emphasises the need
for the register to be user-friendly and easily accessible on the Internet.
It must include not only the names of the lobbying organisations but also the
name of the individual lobbyists themselves. The register should also contain
separate categories in which lobbyists should be registered according to the
type of interests they represent (e.g. professional associations, company
representatives, trade unions, employers' organisations, law firms, NGOs,
etc.). Parliament welcomes the
Commission's decision to request that the requirement of financial disclosure
by interest representatives joining the register apply to the following: a)
the turnover of professional consultancies and law firms attributable to
lobbying the EU institutions, as well as the relative weight of their major
clients; b) an estimate of the costs associated with direct lobbying of the
EU institutions incurred by in-house lobbyists and trade associations ;
c) the overall budget and breakdown of the main sources of funding of NGOs
and think-tanks.
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