Public interest organisations call for equal treatment under new lobby register

Public interest organisations united in the EU Civil Society Contact Group are highly concerned that the version of the register prepared by the Secretary General of the European Commission is fundamentally flawed in at least two important aspects:

1. The draft register requests different types of financial information from different types of actors. For-profit lobbying organisations are asked to report approximate figures related to lobbying expenditure, while public interest organisations are asked to provide total budget figures. This means that the register will not provide comparable financial information to the public. The Civil Society Contact Group calls for all EU interest representatives to disclose lobby expenditure and total budget.

2. The draft register is limited to organisations and does not request the registration of individual lobbyists working for them. This means that the register will not make public any information about the number of lobbyists working at EU level, nor who they work for.

In the past, the European Commission has expressed a commitment to "ensure that the Union is open to public scrutiny". "If the European Commission's register for interest representatives were launched in its current form, it would give the impression that the Commission is unwilling to improve lobbying transparency at EU level" said Fintan Farrell, chair of the EU Civil Society Contact Group. "A meaningful public scrutiny can only occur if the provided information is relevant and comparable", he continued.

The EU Civil Society Contact Group yesterday sent letters to the European Commission reiterating these claims.

The EU Civil Society Contact Group brings together the Platform of European Social NGOs (Social Platform), the European NGO confederation for relief and development (Concord), the Human Rights and Democracy Network, the Green 10 (environmental organisations), the European Women’s Lobby, the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (culture action europe), the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) and the European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning (EUCIS-LLL). Encompassing hundreds of European NGOs and thousands of national affiliates, they work together to develop a common vision for the European Union and the dialogue between civil society organisations and the EU institutions as an essential part of strengthening participatory democracy.