By Bruno Waterfield - 2nd May 2006
Business has praised and openness campaigners have condemned a light touch European commission approach to the regulation of lobbyists.
Rules for lobbyists and openness over who receives EU funds are at the centre of a new policy paper on ethics.
Commission vice-president Siim Kallas unveiled his long-awaited and delayed green paper, the European transparency initiative, on May 3.
Under his proposals regulation of Brussels lobbyists will be based on a self-policed code of conduct and a voluntary register rather that mandatory legislation.
Kallas argues that compulsory, EU directive style, measures are no guarantee of openness and are legally complex.
“If we started to create legislation, we would never end within the working period of this commission,” he told journalists.
“This may look more weak than hard legislation but in the parts of world where law has been developed it has not necessarily provided security.”
Washington, with tough lobbying rules, observes Kallas, has not managed to duck sleaze scandals and the US has a different approach the relationship between private money and politics.
The Estonian commissioner believes that Washington, recently hit by the Abramoff scandal surrounding political funding and business interests, is no role model for Brussels.
“We see that this legislation does solve problems and can create a complex landscape with holes. Recent incidents in the US show that legislation is not perfect,” he said.
Kallas dismisses “transparency” campaigners who accuse him of stepping back from a mandatory approach of a misunderstanding.
“We have never had such an approach,” he told journalists on Wednesday. “We have always has a consultative approach.”
“There has always been pressure to have a directive but I consider our approach is more effective.”
The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) – an umbrella of environmentalist campaigners, NGOs, trade unions and academics – has condemned the Kallas proposals.
Erik Wesselius of the Corporate Europe Observatory attacked “an inadequate voluntary approach”.
“An e-mail list announcing upcoming commission consultations is no credible incentive to ensure comprehensive registration and reporting by EU lobbyists,” he said.
“Those lobbyists who want to stay in the shadow and not reveal their lobbying to the general public will continue to do so under this
proposal.”
But the European Public Affairs Consultancies Association welcomed the Kallas touch and stressed that EU institutions could make the voluntary system work.
“This is a joint responsibility: commission officials and those from the other EU institutions will need to ask whether or not they are dealing with a registered lobbyist,” said EPACA board member Julia Harrison.
EU bosses organisation UNICE hailed the proposals and pledged to lobby hard for the light touch regulatory approach.
“UNICE supports the transparency initiative by commissioner Kallas, which acknowledges interest representation to be a legitimate, essential and indispensable source of information for EU policy-making,” said a statement.
“However, UNICE also urges that unnecessary administrative burden is avoided when this initiative is being shaped.”
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