Brussels, 05/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 5 October, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, said that the European Commission at the time of José Manuel Barroso was not transparent enough about its meetings with the tobacco industry.
She calls upon the Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker to do what it can to put things right, by publishing all of its meetings with tobacco lobbyists or their representatives (such as law firms) on the Internet, together with the minutes of these meetings.
Lobbying activities in the tobacco sector contributed to the resignation of the European Commissioner for Health at the time, John Dalli. It is therefore no exaggeration to say that not everything was out in the open in the relationship between the Commission and representatives of the tobacco industry.
The Ombudsman concluded that the Commission's approach as regards publishing these meetings is, with the exception of DG Health, inadequate, unreliable and unsatisfactory. In most of the cases, the Commission publishes information about such meetings only in response to document requests or questions from MEPs. The Ombudsman found that certain meetings with lawyers representing the tobacco industry were not considered as meetings for the purposes of lobbying, which are not subject to transparency measures.
According to the Ombudsman, the Commission does not fully implement the rules and guidelines of the WHO on transparency and lobbying in the tobacco sector.
The Ombudsman was responding to a complaint brought by an NGO, which claimed that the Commission was not meeting its obligations under the WHO's Tobacco Control Convention. The Ombudsman takes the view that it is not enough that only DG Health is transparent about its meetings with the tobacco industry.
The Ombudsman was not convinced by the Commission's argument that responding to MEP questions as well as to requests to access documents amounts to sufficient transparency. “But if no questions are asked, meetings with tobacco lobbyists remain undisclosed”, the Ombudsman argued. Emily O'Reilly has invited the Commission to explain by 31 December 2015 how it will implement her recommendations. In addition, she has requested an update on the Commission's intention to introduce a mandatory register of lobbyists. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)