Brussels, 19/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 25 November, the European Commission will propose strengthening its commissioners' obligations on transparency - and also those of its directors-general, and its heads and members of cabinet - with regard to their meetings with lobby groups or law firms. The Commission is thus responding to one of the priorities flagged up by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to increase the transparency of the European institutions in order to bring Europe closer to its citizens. It is also responding to the concerns on the way it works - concerns raised by both the Dalli affair and by the opening of the TTIP negotiations with the US.
This decision was announced by European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans on Wednesday 19 November, at the end of the college meeting. The decision, which will be applied directly from 1 December 2014, will call on the commissioners to be “fully transparent on their agendas, on the people they meet or on the people they wish to approach”, Timmermans stated. The commissioners and officials concerned will have to publish these agendas and meetings on the Commission website.
“We are in an age when citizens demand that their governments show their engagements clearly, and we can also ask the Council and Parliament to follow the Commission”, Timmermans said. All contracts will have to be made public, but some limits will be possible - especially when security issues are at stake, he said. “This is the case when we meet a dissident”, he added.
From a practical point of view, with written contacts already being covered by the system of access to documents, this publication could focus on bilateral meetings. The date, place, name of the commissioner/cabinet member/director general, the name of the professional organisation or individual and the subject of the discussion could be published, says a note used in preparing the debate within the college of commissioners. However, contacts at public demonstrations, spontaneous meetings which took place at other events, and contacts that are purely private or social could be excluded under the principle of proportionality. The sensitive sector of competition should also be treated differently, with a meeting on a decision being able to impact the markets. The publication deadline could be set at two to three weeks after the meeting.
If there is no specific control mechanism, “it is the very clear responsibility of the whole college to do this for their cabinets and staff. And if there is a problem, they will have to justify themselves before the Commission or before the press or Parliament”, Timmermans stated. He also thinks that the European ombudsman will want to monitor the practice. The next stage as regards transparency will be the obligatory register of lobbyists that Juncker wants to be based on an interinstitutional agreement in 2015. (SP)