“European governments should increase the transparency and the accountability around lobbying to ensure that members of the public know which actors seek to influence political decisions”, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body (GRECO) indicates in its 2021 report published on Thursday, 2 June.
Notably emphasising that “public confidence has [...] been tested to the limit” during the Covid-19 crisis, GRECO explains that, while “lobbying is a legitimate activity that can contribute to the democratic process and well-informed decision-making”, it requires that citizens know which actors influence political decisions.
For democracies to function properly, it is essential for anti-corruption standards to be fully respected, GRECO goes on to say, reiterating that “[this] can be by setting up lobbyist registers, indicating if contacts are formal or informal, the identity of the persons who were in contact, and the subjects discussed”.
GRECO President Marin Mrčela reports, “In general terms, in 2021, we saw progress in the implementation of GRECO’s recommendations, but improvements should be further accelerated, in particular concerning anti-corruption measures in respect of MPs and top executive functions of central governments”. This was the subject of GRECO’s fifth evaluation round, deployed in 2021, in addition to measures taken in the context of a fourth round concerning the prevention of corruption among parliamentarians, judges, and prosecutors.
In his introduction, Marin Mrčela mentions by way of reminder that the European Union has observer status with GRECO, which allows “close” cooperation actualised by the important place given to the conclusions of this body of the Council of Europe in the European Commission Rule of Law Report.
“The door continues to be open for the EU to become a full member of GRECO”, he indicates.
Link to GRECO’s 2021 report: https://aeur.eu/f/1WX (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)