Brussels, 02/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will bring forward a draft inter-institutional agreement with a view to setting up a new register - and this time it is to be compulsory for the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU - of anyone interested in speaking to EU institutions to influence their work.
This is what came out of a debate in the European Parliament on Monday 2 May on transparency in European decision-making.
The event was chaired by Parliament Vice-President Sylvie Guillaume (S&D, France) and Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans.
In March, the Commission launched a public consultation, open to all EU citizens, on the transparency register. The consultation, which will run until 1 June (see EUROPE 11502), follows on from a pledge by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to propose a compulsory, inter-institutional register of lobbyists and interest groups before the end of 2016.
The European Transparency Register was set up in 2011 after the Commission and Parliament agreed to have a joint register. Registration of lobbyists and interest groups is currently voluntary. More than 9,000 organisations now feature on the list.
Guillaume noted that Parliament had, on several occasions, called for a compulsory lobbyist registers (resolutions of 8 May 2008, of 11 May 2011 and of 15 April 2014). A register of this sort would serve as a model for a number of countries, including France, she suggested. She said that, next week in Strasbourg, Parliament would adopt an own initiative report on transparency issues. In her view, the issues that have to be settled in the review of the register include: - participation of the Council of the EU in the register; - continued involvement of local authorities in the register (or the creation of a separate register for them); - a requirement to be put in place for lawyers to register as soon as they act as consultants; - the quality of the information to be provided by interest group representatives; - the system of penalties in cases of incorrect information being given - the introduction of a “legislative footprint”.
After the discussions among experts on the transparency register, Timmermans said that the Commission wanted to propose a compulsory register for the three EU institutions (Commission, Parliament and Council of the EU) with a system of sanctions for organisations which did not abide by the rules.
A Commission representative said that, thus far, more than 850 submissions had been received to the public consultation. After the submissions have been examined, there will be internal discussions within the Commission. A proposal for a new inter-institutional agreement governing transparency rules will be presented by the Commission in the autumn. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)