The EU Council of Ministers adopted, on Thursday 6 May, new rules to ensure transparent and ethical interest representation.
The decision in question concerns ‘the regulation of contacts between the General Secretariat of the EU Council and interest representatives’ and stems from the agreement between the three institutions (European Parliament, EU Council and Commission) on a mandatory transparency register (see EUROPE 12708/13).
The decision (https://bit.ly/3eqjbk9 ) confirms the principle of conditionality: registration in the transparency register is a necessary precondition for interest representatives to carry out certain activities.
Thus, meetings organised between interest representatives and the Secretary-General and Directors General of the General Secretariat of the EU Council shall be conditional upon prior registration of interest representatives in the transparency register, according to the decision.
Ana Paula Zacarias, Portugal’s Secretary of State for European Affairs, pointed out that the decision includes new rules “making conditional upon prior registration of the interest representatives in the register their meetings with senior staff of the Secretariat of the EU Council, as well as their participation in thematic briefings and public events organised by the General Secretariat and their access to the Council premises”.
On 20 May, the three institutions will sign the interinstitutional agreement and the accompanying joint political declaration. The texts will then be published in the EU’s Official Journal and are expected to enter into force in early July. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)