Commission wobbling on lobbying

05 June 2009

The European Commission is getting ready to report on the first year of operation of its voluntary lobbyists' register, which was launched June 23, 2008. Some 1500 firms and organisations have signed up, against an estimated 2600 lobbying "entities" in Brussels. Looks impressive, and the Commission will no doubt claim it is, writes Stephen Gardner. But not so fast. Closer examination of the signed-up organisations by transparency campaign group ALTER-EU has shown that only around a third are Brussels-based. Many on the register are small non-governmental organisations working on projects that get some EU funding, and who seem to think they are obliged to sign up even though they do no actual lobbying. Real lobbyists have kept their heads well below the parapet. Only around 15 percent of the Brussels public affairs consultancies are listed, with big names like Grayling, Weber Shandwick and Clan notable by their absence. Law firms and think tanks have all but boycotted the register, even though they are the real schmoozers when it comes to persuading Commissioners of a certain point of view. When it opened the register, the Commission said in the interests of greater transparency that it would oblige lobbyists to sign up if the voluntary approach flopped. But don't expect changes soon. Already in April, pre-empting the outcome of the review, the Commissioner in charge of the register, Siim Kallas let slip (to an audience at think tank the European Policy Centre of all places) that the register would "never go to mandatory." For more EU Insider articles, click here.

 

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