By Martin Banks - 18th October 2011
As yet the council has declined to join the EU joint register
Diana Wallils
Senior MEP Diana Wallis says the UK could "learn important lessons" from parliament and the commission regarding the introduction of a lobby register.
She was speaking in the wake of Liam Fox' resignation as UK defence minister amid allegations of inappropriate access to him by Adam Werritty, a lobbyist.
On Tuesday, an official report was expected to say that Fox broke the ministerial code in his dealings with his friend Werritty.
However, UK cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell's report is also expected to conclude Fox did not gain financially from the arrangement.
Fox resigned on Friday after a week of allegations over his working relationship with Werritty.
In resigning, the defence secretary said he had allowed his personal loyalties and professional responsibilities to become "blurred".
He had been criticised for his conduct in relation to Werritty, who had claimed to be Fox's adviser, joined him on 18 foreign trips and arranged meetings for him despite having no official government or Conservative party role
Reaction to his resignation came from Wallis, who was in charge of negotiating a joint lobby register for the two EU institutions as a vice-president of parliament.
She said. "It is high time that lobbying was discussed seriously and transparent rules are put in place in Westminster.
"The European parliament now has a leading position amongst European national parliaments with its joint lobby register for the commission and parliament which was welcomed by most serious professional lobby organisations.
"Alongside clarifying who they are and their policy interests, lobbyists also have to disclose an amount of financial information, although there is always room to develop this aspect further.
"Most importantly, we managed to introduce a code of conduct for lobbyists, which in case of a breach will lead to a denial of access to the European institutions and of course adverse publicity.
"A first step to prove that the UK is serious about tackling concerns around lobbyism would be to shine a transparent light on the activities of national ministers involved in European policy and law making when they attend European council meetings.
"As yet the council has declined to join the EU joint register. This needs to change and the UK could help be a spur to that change in the wake of the circumstances of this latest ministerial departure."
The EU's so-called transparency register came into force in June this year.
